Not all is well in the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has raised eyebrows over the alleged irregularities in the purchase of minimum support price (MSP)-based agricultural produce in the state during Shinde's reign as the CM.
The state government's order, dated February 17, raised questions on the appointment of the nodal agencies proposed to the National Agricultural Co-operative Federation of India (NAFED) in the Shinde government under former minister Abdul Sattar, India Today reported.
Due to this, the state government will establish a new policy on the appointment of nodal agencies, the formulated strategy, and the selection of agencies for procurement.
Some agencies have been included in the NAFED list for procurement of agricultural produce at the MSP despite having no experience of the same and have allegedly made it through political interference.
The recognition of agencies that do not meet the criteria will be revoked. The government has appointed a 6-member committee to decide on new nodal agenices and to create an inclusive policy regarding them.
From only 2 agencies two years back, this number has gone up to 44 due to political interference particularly in onion and soybean procurement.
When Shinde was the Chief Minister and held the marketing portfolio, proposals were sent to NAFED to grant permits to these agencies, which were subsequently approved.
This, however, is not the first instance wherein Fadnavis has raised eyebrows over Shinde's decisions as the CM. The CM office has ordered an inquiry into the ₹900 crore Kharpurdi project in Jalna district completed during Shinde's tenure as CM.
Fadnavis also cancelled the decision to take 1,310 buses on contract for ST Mahamandal over allegations of changes made in the tender process to favour some contractors. Due to this, ST Mahamandal incurred a loss of around ₹2,000 crore. He ordered the authorities to start the process afresh with transparency.
Moreover, Devendra Fadnavis has sought a review of the Shivbhojan Thali and Anandacha Shidha schemes started by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde, respectively. If both these schemes are stopped, at least ₹500 crore of the state exchequer are saved.
As per sources, Shinde approved many projects but did not pay any attention to whether the state treasury really had that much money or not. Since the state has to spend around ₹46,000 crore each year on the Ladli Behna Yojana, the government has not been able to pay around ₹84,000 crore for several projects and works going on in the state.