Sand in dilute puts Welfare minister Pankaja Munde in a spot
Author yuvamind
Mumbai: A numerous complaints from local bodies has come out over contaminated food items and substandard materials exposed what is being termed the first scam of the Devendra Fadnavis government.
Pankaja Munde, who is Women and child welfare minister also holds the rural development dishonor rules and favoured certain companies while awarding a host of contracts, worth about Rs206 crore, through 24 government resolutions on a single day in February.
During the contracts were awarded, Munde’s women and child welfare department has received numerous complaints through men or women in rural areas. In a letter to the minister, local corporators and council presidents had asked that the government withdraw stocks of snacks desecration with clay and sand.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant, who submitted documents to the Anti-Corruption Bureau and complaint against Munde on Wednesday, has demanded thorough inquiry into the alleged scam.
According to Sachin Sawant statement, “A contract for printing booklets was given to Navi Mumbai-based Jagatguru Printing Private Limited, which does not even have copyright on the content. In another contract, to print workbooks, the rate used was meant for another department, lastly came out result as an objections’’.
Sawant also expressed that Munde’s department cost the state lakhs by reducing the discount on printed materials for children in Anganwadis. The books, he claims, were bought at a 20% discount from printing firms, instead of the usual 25%.
In another case, Prist Pharmaceuticals in Amravati was awarded a contract to supply medical kits for Rs 720 each, well in excess of the Rs-500 limit set by the government. To facilitate the awarding of the contract to Prist, Munde allegedly reduced the number of tablets in each kit.