Kerala's Onam kits: Fraud in supply of jaggery, cloth bags

Kerala's Onam kits: Fraud in supply of jaggery, cloth bags
Workers prepare Kerala Government's Onam food kits in Kottayam. Photo: Harilal

Kannur: Poor quality jaggery distributed along with the Onam kits in Kerala was supplied by two firms which quoted a high price. While a Kozhikode-based cooperative had sold the jaggery for Rs 62.40 per kg, a company at Erode in Tamil Nadu had priced the item at Rs 59.69.

Both firms together were given orders for 46.73 lakh kg of jaggery, which was more than half of the total quantity procured by the authorities.

Tests at CFRD Laboratory in Konni, which is under the government, had revealed that the jaggery did not meet the required quality standards. Action was suggested against the two firms based on the test report, but the Supplyco is yet to make a move in this direction.

The only official action so far has been issuing an order to return 3.62 lakh kg. However, as much as 25 lakh kg of the jaggery supplied by the two establishments has already been distributed to ration card holders.

According to the tender document, the firms have to take back poor quality jaggery and supply fresh item. But nothing can be done about the jaggery already distributed.

Other punitive measures include cancellation of the contract, inclusion of the firms in the black list and blocking the security deposit. Criminal procedures can also be initiated under the Food Security Act.

Cloth bags

Meanwhile, ration dealers have decided to distribute Onam kits only after weighing them. This is after widespread complaints were raised regarding missing items in the kits, which are supposed to weigh 4.670 kg each.

Fraud has also been reported in the purchase of the cloth bags for packing the kit. While tenders were invited to buy 82.64 lakh bags, 98.73 lakh were bought. While the lowest price of Rs 6.90 per bag was quoted by Sharon Group, the next was Rs 7.85 by the public sector SIDCO. But these purchase orders were cancelled as the firms expressed their inability to supply the bags in time.

Subsequently, Mahamudra Agro Traders, which quoted Rs 8.34 and Keerthi Packaging, with Rs 8.43, agreed to supply bags to 26 depots each of Supplyco. However, the authorities distributed the order among several firms, most of which quoted a higher price. Even a firm that quoted Rs 9.34 and came tenth in the tender received an order.

In most depots, more bags were supplied by firms quoting a higher price. For instance, in Alappuzha depot, a company that quoted Rs 8.34 received an order for 35,000 bags while another firm that priced the item at Rs 8.52 was asked to supply 1,18,500 bags.

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