Bhopal: There are complaints of irregularities in home delivery of dry rations. The chief secretary has called for the file containing the plaints. Instead of midday meal, dry rations are being distributed, following the central government’s directives.
Additional chief secretary Manoj Shrivastava handed over the work worth Rs 285 crore to Kendriya Bhandar (central store) without the approval of panchayat and rural development minister Mahendra Singh Sisodia. The minister wrote a note-sheet asking the chief secretary to probe the matter. The minister has, however, given post facto approval in the file.
In this case, the government wants to see under which rule the work was given to the central store. Besides the central store, the central government told the state to give the work to other agencies, such as self-help groups. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also begun to promote the self-help groups.
The government is, however, angry about the panchayat and rural development department’s decision to allot the work to private agencies through the central store. The children were given tuvar dal (yellow split pigeon peas), chikki (sweetmeat made of nut and jaggery) and soy oil. The school education department got the case inquired through the collectors after the chief secretary’s directives.
During the probe, it came to light that rations were sent to the children. Now, the central store is ready to make the payment, but the file has not been sent to the chief secretary. KK Automatic of Chhattisgarh has been given that work. Earlier, the work was given to Sonartari Multi-Agro Cooperative Society, New Delhi.
According to Sisodia, it is true that his approval was not taken before handing over of the work to the central store. He says he has given post facto approval in the file. He further says he has written to the chief secretary to probe the case. According to Sisodia, the collectors and third party have probed the matter, but no irregularities have cropped up. He says he is returning the file, which is with him, to the department.
Dealing done in rates
At the time of distributing soy oil, chikki and tuvar dal, an underhand dealing was done in rates, sources say. All those items were purchased at rates which are higher than the ones in the market. The rates should have been lower than the ones in the market, because those items were bought in huge quantities. For such a huge purchase, a tender is generally floated so that the rates may be reduced, but it was not done in this case.
