Senior Congress leader and legislator Ajit Jogi has demanded CBI inquiry into alleged schoolbag scam in which the government reportedly purchased bags much more than the required figures for the SC and ST girl students through fund released by European Commission.
“Surprisingly, the company, which was existing only on papers and had limited capacity and infrastructure, was selected during tendering procedures to supply bags despite of its highest quotations,” Jogi said.
He informed that the European Commission had released Rs 5.60 crore to the state government under its joint development programme to distribute school kit (containing schoolbags along with pair of shoes and socks) to the SC and ST girl students from class 3rd to 6th of Sarguja district in the current academic session, i.e. 2011-12. “The total number of eligible beneficiaries was 1.79 lakh, but the Assistant Commissioner of Tribal Development Department purchased 317348 schoolbags which was 1.27 lakh more,” Jogi said.
He alleged that the company Krishna Industries which was hired by the government to supply schoolbags was completely fake one. “On inspection, the company’s factory was found closed. The factory does not come under the category production units. The company has not even submitted documents mentioning that it was authorised producer and supplier. The company has seven workers, capital worth Rs two lakh, a rented building which it claims as its factory, no machine, but still it got the order to supply schoolbags,” Jogi said.
He informed that six companied participated in the tendering process and one Balaji Manufacturer was the lowest bidder as it had quoted Rs 144 per bag. “Four companies quoted Rs 148, Rs 157, Rs 158 and Rs 164 respectively while Krishna Industries which got the order quoted Rs 185 per bag,” he said.
Jogi said the state government was already engaged in various scams but it did not hesitate in misusing the fund meant for schoolbags.
No comments:
Post a Comment