The newly-appointed Standing Committee of the BJP-ruled Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) has refused to clear the bill for procuring over one lakh wooden sticks meant to be used as staff for National Flags to celebrate the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign this Independence Day – the deal for which was made during the tenure of BJP leaders who completed their term in September – suspecting that the deal favoured one graphic designing firm. Suspecting "irregularities," the Standing Committee, headed by Jaymin Thakar, on Tuesday trashed a proposal of RMC's Central Store seeking to pay Rs 12.88 lakh to four private vendors that had supplied 1.42 lakh sticks and 10,000 Tiranga strips to the civic body for the campaign this August. Last year as well, the RMC Central Store had purchased sticks from two of these four vendors for the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. Thakar told The Indian Express, “The Standing Committee rejected the proposal to pay Rs 12.48 lakh to the three private vendors, as it suspected over-invoicing and other irregularities in supply of sticks for the staff. Sourcing wooden sticks for flags from a graphic designing firm raises several questions. Also, it was observed during the campaign that RMC didn't have enough flag staffs." He added that the proposal that was forwarded to the Standing Committee, neither had any specification of the sticks that were procured nor did it have details of Central Store having sought quotations from other vendors. As per the Central Store’s proposal, it would have to pay Rs 9.66 lakh to Real Graphics for 1.1 lakh sticks, Rs 2.63 lakh to Krishna Timber Mart for 30,000 sticks and Rs 17,580 to Jay Agency for 2,000 sticks for use as flag staff during the campaign. All these vendors are based in Rajkot. The proposal also sought the Standing Committee’s nod for paying Rs 40,000 to Vasant & Company for supplying 10,000 strips having colours of the National Flag, distributed as headbands. This was also rejected. According to the proposal, the Gujarat government sent a communique to RMC on August 4 to organise the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign from August 13 to 15, while informing that two lakh flags would be allotted to RMC. The government allotted 1.5 lakh flags to RMC on August 10. Following this, the Central Store procured 1.42 lakh sticks for the flags without floating tenders. “Sticks were to be distributed with the flags. However, there was no sufficient time for this procurement. In the meantime, different agencies had agreed to supply sticks at Rs 8.79 per piece, the rate which was approved by Standing Committee vide its resolution No.446 and dated January 10, 2023, for last year's procurement,” stated the proposal, seeking approval for the procurement made "without seeking earnest money deposit/caution money deposit and without signing a contract”. “But they procured 1.1 lakh sticks from a graphic designer and only 30,000 from a timber mart. This raises suspicion,” said Thakar, adding that the Standing Committee had sought clarifications from the vendors in its last meeting, which was not provided. The procurement had been done “in anticipation of subsequent approval by the standing committee”, Assistant Manager of the RMC Central Store, Pranav Pancholi, said. The RMC distributed 24 inch x 20 inch flags with staff among the residents of Rajkot, he added. Last year, the state government had allotted RMC 1.9 lakh flags at Rs 21 per piece. Records accessed by The Indian Express show the RMC had procured 1,89,111 sticks last August, of which the highest (1,01,111) was from Krishna Timber Mart, 38,000 from Ashapura Sawmill and 50,000 from Real Graphics, at a cost of the same Rs 8.79 per piece. Organisations that purchased flags from RMC at Rs 30 per piece last year "paid directly" to vendors for 83,000 out of the 1.89 lakh sticks, records show. The Standing Committee, then chaired by Pushkar Patel, approved a proposal of the Central Store in January this year to pay Rs 9.32 lakh to the three vendors for the remaining 1,06,111 sticks. Thakar was elected chairman after Patel's two-and-a-half-year-long term ended on September 12. "We generally don't require to procure sticks and therefore, don't have rate contracts for this item. Last year, we had only eight days to make the procurement, hence, tendering was not possible. We sought price quotations from private vendors. Ashapura Sawmill quoted lowest rate of Rs 8.79 but it could supply only 38,000 sticks. Therefore, we approached other vendors, Krishna Timber Mart and Real Graphics, asking them if they would supply sticks at the same rate. They agreed and we procured 1,01,111 and 50,000 sticks, respectively, from them," Pancholi said. He added that this year, they received the flags on August 10, giving them two days to get the sticks and they approached the same vendors. “Ashapura had no stock and cited a delay in payment for last year’s supply. Krishna Timber Mart could only supply 30,000, hence, we had to procure 1.1 lakh sticks from Real Graphics and 2,000 from Jay Agencies." Asked why RMC did not charge people for flag posts like last year, Patel said: "In 2022, the state government allotted us flags at a price and therefore, we sold them to the people. This year, the government gave us flags free of cost, hence we distributed them for free, as the cost of procuring flag posts was just Rs 10-12 lakh." When contacted, Ankit Radadiya of Real Graphics said, "We will do something about it." Krishna Timber Mart and Jay Agency could not be reached for a comment.
