The previous Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh had awarded energy food contract worth Rs 1,993.5 crore under the Integrated Child Development Services to five inter-related firms,including two headed by Rajendra Singh Chadha,brother of the late liquor baron Ponty Chadha.
This was revealed in a CAG report on the ICDS tabled in Parliament. It says that in August-September 2009,the contract to supply amylase-rich energy foods was awarded for three years to five firms in five different zones.
These firms were Great Value Food,Health Care Energy Food Pvt Ltd,Christy Friedgram Industry,Trikal Foods and Agro Products Private Limited and PBS Food Private Limited. The CAG has found that these firms are inter-related with Chadha as director of both Great Value Food and Health Care Energy Food Pvt Ltd. Ajay Rastogi was the director of Christy Friedgram and Prashant Kumar of Trikal Foods. Sudhir Agrawal,resident of Turab Nagar,Ghaziabad,was director of PBS Food,and Preeti Agrawal,resident of the same address,was the director of Trikal Foods.
The report said for technical bids of Zone B both Great Value and Christy Friedgram furnished the same VAT registration number. While the registered address of Great Value,Christy Friedgram and PBS Foods were different,based in Delhi and Gurgaon,all three had account in the same branch of a bank in Jalandhar,the report said.