Maha Council: NCP's Munde alleges Rs 2,000 cr tur milling scam

The Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Dhananjay Munde, today alleged a scam of over Rs 2,000 crore in the milling of tur in the state.

Munde alleged that a tender condition for eligible firms, of having a milling capacity of 2,000 metric tonnes per day, was brought down to 50 metric tonnes to facilitate a firm called "Ms Saptashrungi Traders" which had no milling capacity of its own.

Waving documents, Munde claimed that the Anil Deshmukh, general manager of the State Marketing Federation, in his file noting on September 13, 2017, had stated that the tender conditions were being changed on the oral instructions of the Minister for Cooperation and Marketing.

He demanded that a criminal case be filed against Deshmukh if his file noting was found to be untrue.

Munde said that the marketing federation had floated a tender for milling of whole tur into edible tur in August 2017.

"Despite 10 bidders submitting their bids, the federation floated a second tender expanding the terms and conditions to include traders besides millers," he said.

"The condition of per day milling capacity of 2,000 metric tonnes was changed to just 50 metric tonnes giving a windfall of Rs 139 crore to Ms Saptashrungi Traders. The government also extended the milling deadline," Munde said.

He added that, given the lack of expertise, it would take this firm at least nine years to mill the entire stock of 25 lakh metric tonnes of whole tur.

Munde stated that once milled, tur dal has a shelf life of not more than a year.

He alleged that the company had imported tur from Myanmar and South Africa.

He further disclosed that the Education officer of Buldhana Zilla Parishad, where the BJP is in power, had stated in his report that tur dal being supplied for nutritious diet in ZP schools was not of satisfactory quality.

Producing packets of milled tur dal in the House, Munde said it contained tur dal mixed with peas.

"Since August last year, the trading company has been able to mill just 10 per cent of the tur procured by the government. All the bank accounts of Ms Saptashrungi Trading Company must be investigated," he said.

He added that the state Chief Secretary, in February this year, had recommended that the company's contract be terminated and its deposit forfeited if it was unable to supply the milled tur dal on time.

"Despite the state Chief Secretary passing strictures, there was no action taken by the Federation against Saptashrungi Traders," he said.

Munde urged Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar to direct the government to conduct a probe into it.