Fadnavis govt hit by new scam allegation

Mumbai — Controversial Maharashtra ministers Vinod Tawde and Pankaja Munde already facing charges of having indulged in irregularities are finding the going tough with fresh allegations being leveled against them by the Congress.

Tawde who has been accused of having earned his ‘engineering’ degree from an unrecognised institution in Pune is facing charges of awarding a contract for fire extinguishers for more than 60000 schools across the state without adhering to the mandatory e-tendering process.

The education minister who has landed himself in several controversies over the past few months with his abrasive comments is accused of having directed bureaucrats to order fire extinguishers for 60000 district primary schools to a particular company in Thane without even bothering to call for tenders.

This despite the fact that the finance department had objected to the contract; the department later managed to get the orders stayed. Tawde has denied he indulged in any irregularities and claims that the contractor has not been paid for the fire extinguishers. After the finance department raised objections the contract was stopped he admits. Pankaja daughter of the late BJP leader Gopinath Munde and an ambitious politician has been accused of having favoured a businessman by awarding him a contract to build dams in Jalna district without going through the tendering process.

Last week she was accused of issuing contracts worth more than Rs2 billion for the supply of snacks dishes mats and books without going for the mandatory e-tendering process.

Worse many local bodies across Maharashtra have been complaining that the snack item (chikkis) being supplied by the contractor have been adulterated with mud.

Munde returned to Mumbai on Tuesday from London to a big welcome by her supporters at the airport. The minister who is in-charge of rural development and women and child welfare portfolios vowed to expose the ‘conspiracy’ against her. Her supporters accuse her cousin Dhananjay Munde who is with the Congress and is the leader of the opposition in the legislative council of plotting against her. The Congress has filed a complaint against Pankaja with the state’s Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The Congress plans to intensify its campaign against more than half a dozen allegedly corrupt BJP ministers over the coming days.

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