ROURKELA: In Sundargarh, District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund to the tune of Rs 32.33 crore was used to supply safety equipment and kits to workers in private mines and industries.For the record, mines and industries are mandated to provide safety equipment to workers as part of statutory obligation. However, the Sundargarh district administration appeared to have played the Good Samaritan and reasons for it are unknown yet.
As per RTI documents, following a meeting chaired by former Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan on August 4, 2021, the DMF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) BS Patel on September 1 sent reminder to District Labour Office (DLO) for urgent supply of list of mining workers for distribution of personal protective equipment and other essential items.
About two months before that on June 9, 2021, a tender (Bid Ref-No-DMF/Sng/02/2021-22) was floated for supply of safety equipment and kits for 10,000 mining workers. Geelon Industries Pvt Ltd which quoted Rs 13,500 emerged L1 bidder, while Veer Enterprises and Shree Hari General Supplier were L2 and L3 bidders respectively.
According to RTI information obtained by Rashmi Ranjan Padhi from the public information officer (PIO) of Sundargarh DMF, before procurement and distribution started, another surprise element was added. It was decided that 14,050 mining workers will be covered by the scheme which was subsequently increased to a staggering 24,139 workers covering both private industrial and mining workers.
Citing documents, Padhi said Geelon Industries was allowed to supply kits for 14,042 workers, while Veer Enterprises and Shree Hari were authorised to cover 3,025 and 7,062 workers. The increased procurement was done without calling for another tender, Padhi alleges stating that all the suppliers were from outside Odisha.While Geelon was paid above Rs 18.82 crore, Veer Enterprises and Shree Hari were made payments of Rs 9.46 crore and Rs 4.05 crore respectively towards the procurement.
Padhi, a Congress leader, alleges that prescribed quality and brands mentioned in the tender documents were not followed. While Rs 13,500 was paid towards each package, the kits supplied were worth hardly Rs 8,000 apiece. “The difference could be to the tune of Rs 12 crore in a deal of Rs 32.33 crore,” he added.
The decision to supply safety equipment and kits to workers was based on discussions in the agenda for the 8th board meeting of Sundargarh DMF. The distribution was launched by former Collector Kalyan himself in first week of April 2022. He was later posted as Cuttack Municipal Commissioner in third week of June.
Padhi said, providing safety equipment and kits is legally binding on mines and industries and questioned why DMF was milked and private owners were shown favour.New Sundargarh Collector and DMF Chairman-Cum-Managing Trustee Dr Parag Harshad Gavali is awaited.