BHUBANESWAR : Odisha State Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation Limited (Omfed) incurred a loss of around `3.38 crore due to irregularities in procurement of polythene rolls in 2015-16, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed.
The audit report tabled in the Assembly recently stated the decision to procure polythene rolls was not in the financial interest of the federation. Around 640.79 tonne of polythene rolls worth Rs 14.38 crore was procured without any tender.
As per the Indian standards, the recommended thickness of polyethylene film rolls, used for milk packaging, should not be less than 50 microns for one litre pouch and not less than 40 microns for half litre pouch.
The audit observed that the federation had floated a tender on July 1, 2015 for procuring three-layer polythene rolls, with thickness of 48-52 microns, from August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016. But a day before floating the tender, its marketing division placed a proposal to purchase black and white polythene instead, on the ground that such film preserves milk products for a longer time.
Later, the purchase committee of Omfed recommended the constitution of a technical committee to decide the technical specifications, colour, thickness and yield, as well as the suitability of the proposed polythene rolls in its milk packaging machines. Pending finalisation of the matter, the purchase committee also had recommended cancellation of the tender and accordingly the then managing director (MD) cancelled the tender in July 2015.
The audit, however, found that the MD did not constitute a technical committee to determine the specifications for the black and white polythene rolls, proposed for procurement. As the technical specifications could not be determined, no tender was floated. Instead, the purchase committee resorted to procurement on ‘trial run’ basis, without specifying the required thickness, from two existing suppliers the same year.
Omfed had procured 640.79 tonne of polythene rolls - 571.88 tonne with thickness of 60-65 microns from IDMC at Rs 219.34 per kg and the remaining 68.91 tonne with thickness of 50-55 microns from Indu Packaging and two other suppliers at Rs 160.13 per kg from October 2015 to March 2016.
The CAG found though the tender floated in July, 2015 had been shelved on the plea that a technical committee would determine the specifications of the black and white polythene rolls, there was no evidence of a committee having been constituted for the purpose.