Maharashtra: 1.24 lakh cooking gas kits bought, 44% never reached tribals, says report

In 2007, the then Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra purchased 1.24 lakh gas burners and rubber tubes as part of the scheme for tribal households. A Mumbai-based contractor, Meera Decor, was allotted the contract for the supply of these units financed through tribal welfare funds from state and Central budgets. Each unit came at a cost of Rs 1,405, totalling Rs 17.42 crore.

But while the objective was to promote a cleaner cooking ecosystem in Maharashtra’s tribal households, the inquiry committee found that about 53,900 out of the 1.24 lakh gas units, or 44 per cent of the total supply, never reached the intended beneficiaries. Instead, the committee has found evidence to show, at least 27,602 units were illegally disposed of, with tribal department officials working in connivance with the contractor and gas agencies. The remaining 26,298 units lay undistributed in the government’s godowns, and were eventually discarded since they were rendered unfit for use.

Rapping the then government for the irregularity, the committee, headed by Justice (Retd) M G Gaikwad has said the government of the time had already paid the contractor the full contract amount despite these lapses. “This resulted in loss to the public exchequer,” the committee has said. Then tribal development minister Dr Vijay Kumar Gavit has since quit the Nationalist Congress Party to join the ruling BJP. He is the party’s legislator from Nandurbar.

In a further observation to show “how poorly schemes for tribal welfare are designed and formulated”, the Gaikwad committee has said, “The scheme was taken up without identifying beneficiaries.” It has said tribal department officials had “accepted a scheme formulated by the contractor without considering its feasibility”.

The then Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra had, following directives of the Bombay High Court, appointed the Gaikwad committee on April 15, 2014, to probe allegations of corruption in tribal welfare schemes during Gavit’s tenure. A public litigation has been filed in the court, alleging that the nexus of politicians, officials, and contractors had siphoned off Rs 6,000 crore of tribal funds between 2004 and 2009 by propping up various “dubious” schemes. Since the petitioners had raised allegations of corruption against Gavit too, the committee also probed the former minister’s conduct in this regard.

The Indian Express had reported Saturday that the panel passed strictures against Gavit too in contracts for supply of oil pumps and diesel engines to tribal farms, and the supply of gas units to tribal households.

Maintaining that he was yet to read the panel’s report, Gavit, when contacted, told The Indian Express: “You can’t blame a minister for discrepancies in implementation.” He also denied malafide over questions the committee has raised on a contentious order he had issued regarding a contract for the supply of oil pumps in 2007-08, but said he would be in a “position to comment in detail on the report after going through it”.

But with the BJP MLA being indicted by the committee, the Congress went after the Devendra Fadnavis government. Questioning the government over delaying action in the matter, Congress leader Sachin Sawant has demanded that all those found guilty be immediately prosecuted.

The committee, meanwhile, has put out evidence showing that tribal department officials deputed in all ten regional offices across Maharashtra had connived with the contractor and the gas agencies for diversion of funds. It has sought prosecution of all those found responsible, while demanding recovery of the money paid in excess to the contractor.

The committee found a similar scam unfold in the supply of oil pumps, which were meant to help irrigate farm lands of marginal tribal farmers. “Out of the 35,077 oil pumps purchased for supply to such farms between 2004 and 2009, a total of 7,758 were found disposed of illegally, whereas 1,986 others were not distributed at all,” the committee report has said.

Maharashtra’s most backward tribal belt, Nandurbar, saw the highest diversion of oil pumps at 4,330, followed by Nashik (967) and Dharni (757). Like in the case of gas units, the contractor appointed for transporting and installation of the oil pumps to tribal farms, Nandurbar-based Akashdeep Vidyut Sahakari Sanstha, showed that he had already distributed 33,091 oil pumps to the intended beneficiaries, and payments were made to him.

Contending that regional managers and electricians with the state’s Tribal Development Corporation, which was entrusted with the responsibility of supervising the implementation of the scheme, had submitted bogus receipts of installation of oil pumps in tribal farms for disbursal of payments, the inquiry committee has accused it of siphoning off Rs 15 crore in this manner.

Prosecution has been demanded against these officials too.

The committee’s report shows that a Nandurbar-based regional manager had contended during cross examination that the contractor would constantly pressure them to issue such receipts, claiming that he was close to Gavit. The committee has, however, said it found no further evidence to substantiating this claim.

It has also brought on record the fact that another regional manager, when questioned about alterations made to one of the installation receipts, said the receipts had initially been issued in the name of “Gavit’s agency”, which was later altered to mention “Akashdeep”. The report has no further details in this regard.

Gavit, meanwhile, has denied these allegations. Incidentally, while the oil pump supply contractor was required to deposit 5 per cent of the contract amount as security deposit, the panel has said the department admitted that the deposit was “waived off as per the directions of then minister Gavit”.

The committee has also indicted the then managing director (MD) of the Tribal Development Corporation for illegalities in allocation of the contracts for 2004-05 and 2005-06 to Akashdeep. Similar allegations have been raised against the MD for contract allocation of the purchase of these engines from two manufacturing agencies Laxmi Oil Engines and Rocket Oil Engines (both based in Kolhapur) during these two years. Gavit as president of the executive committee of the corporation had authorised the MD to procure these, in the absence of the mandatory approval from the board of directors at the corporation, the panel has said.

The committee has also blamed Gavit for causing loss to public exchequer by directing officials to purchase these pumps at higher rates in 2007-08 on a rate contract, when the board of directors had resolved to buy at a lower price. “We opted for a rate contract since the tendering process would have taken time. The due process was followed,” Gavit defended.