* State Govt forms six special teams to ‘collect information’ about procurements in last 10 years, says Finance Minister
Staff Reporter
While
the Opposition parties are raising questions over procurement made
without inviting tenders, the Maharashtra Government has decided to
‘collect information’ about all Government procurements made during last
10 years. Meanwhile, it has come to fore that the erstwhile
Congress-NCP led Government in the State had paid Rs 69,000 crore to
contractors without utilisation certificates, that is, without
ascertaining completion of works in 10 years.
Sudhir Mungantiwar,
Finance Minister, said that there were irregularities in several works
done during the tenure of previous Congress-NCP Government in the State.
“Bills to the tune of Rs 69,000 crore were paid to contractors, though
there were no certificates regarding completion of works,” he said,
indicating that the matter needed to be probed further. Citing an
example of such payments made to contractors during erstwhile
Congress-NCP rule, he said that an amount of Rs 99.36 lakh was drawn
from the Treasury in Thane even before the contractor concerned supplied
required materials to Industrial Training Institute (ITI) at Wangaon.
According
to Mungantiwar, his department was collecting information and it was
found that as many as 31,208 items were lying unutilised in godowns
though those were purchased in 2013-14 at the cost of Rs 29.13 crore.
Dubbing the non-utilisation of procured items as ‘misuse’, he added that
there were more instances in past 10 years. In one instance, leather
goods worth Rs 49.48 lakh and machines worth Rs 21.28 lakh were procured
but were lying unutilised at Yerwada prison in Pune for five years.
Further,
Mungantiwar said, the Government had decided to ‘collect information’
about all procurements made through ‘rate contract’ system during past
10 years. Six special teams headed by Chief Secretary have been
constituted to collect the information, he added.
However, the
Finance Minister made it clear to the media speaking at Mumbai on
Tuesday, he was gathering information from various departments regarding
procurements made during last 10 years to ‘understand the facts’. The
information to be collected includes systems adopted by the Central and
State Governments while making procurements through ‘rate contract’,
which department has procured how much through ‘rate contract’, if
tenders were invited, reasons if tenders were not invited etc. “If the
Chief Minister wants, he may order an inquiry into the matter later on,”
he said.
Mungantiwar’s statements assume significance against the
backdrop of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), both in
Opposition now, consistently raising the issue of procurement of Rs 206
crore on ‘rate contract’ basis without inviting tenders by the Women and
Child Development Department headed by Pankaja Munde. The Opposition is
gearing up for Monsoon Session of State Legislature scheduled to start
in Mumbai from July 13, and is likely to mount attack on BJP-led
Government over the allegations of irregularities concerning Pankaja
Munde, Women and Child Development Minister; and ‘bogus’ degrees of
Vinod Tawde, Higher and Technical Education Minister; and Babanrao
Lonikar, Water Supply Minister. Mungantiwar’s statements indicate that
the BJP-led Government also has prepared itself to counter the
Opposition attack.
Bill Portal to keep expenses in check: Mungantiwar
Various
departments of the State Government spend huge amounts on different
heads, but integrated information about such expenditure is not
available. As a result, many a time, it becomes difficult to match funds
and expenses. Hence, to keep track of purchases and expenses, the
Government will soon launch ‘Bill Portal’.
The ‘Bill Portal’ will
track of purchase of 22 items across the State by various departments.
Later on, more number of items will be added to the list, said Sudhir
Mungantiwar, Finance Minister. The 22 heads in the list now include
number of vehicles with the Government, number of vehicles hired by the
Government, annual fuel expenditure on these vehicles, expenditure
incurred on air travel of legislators and ministers, expenditure on
telephone bills, amount spent as rent of various buildings etc. At
present, owing to lack of integrated mechanism, estimation of exact
expenditure incurred and provision to be made every year has become
difficult, he said.
The ‘Bill Portal’ is an online service developed
by Director, Accounts and Treasury, with the help of National
Informatics Centre. Information about expenses on fuel for official
vehicles, hired vehicles, rent for various buildings etc in a particular
financial year will be available at a click. This will add to
transparency and efficiency, said the Finance Minister.
(07-07-15)
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