Procurement of fire extinguishers: Maharashtra govt orders probe into Rs 191-cr contract

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On Tuesday, Tawde said he had directed Maharashtra Education Commissioner Purshottam Bhapkar to probe the allegations.

The case pertains to the supply of fire extinguishers to 62,105 Zilla Parishad schools in Maharashtra. On February 11, 2015, Tawde’s department issued a government resolution authorising the office of the Education Director (Primary) to enter into a rate contract to supply the fire extinguishers. But on March 4, the education department was forced to stay the original government resolution and stop the procurement after senior bureaucrats in the finance department raised objections.

Following the controversy, Tawde said the state would now carry out a “fire audit” in all schools first. Tawde also said that no money had been paid or would be paid to the contractor till the probe was complete.

As Tawde refuted the charges levelled against him, the state government also fielded two of his Cabinet colleagues — Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and Cooperation Minister Chandrakant Patil — to defend him. Mungantiwar, whose department had objected to the contract, defended Tawde saying, “This is nothing but a political conspiracy to drag Tawde into the matter. In fact, it was Tawde who brought this matter to light and stalled payment to the contractor.”