Opposition leader accuses Pankaja Munde of Rs 106-crore phone scam

Pankaja Munde and Dhananjay Munde. File pics

State Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde has landed in a controversy with Opposition leader in the Legislative Council and her estranged cousin, Dhananjay Munde, alleging that her department was involved in a Rs 106-crore smartphone scam. He further said that the phones were bought for Anganwadi sevikas and supervising staff at a rate much higher than the market price.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Munde said the department paid at least Rs 2,800 more for each phone. A total of 1.20 lakh staff are eligible to get phones, he said, adding, while the cost of each one was Rs 6,000, the government paid Rs 8,800 to the supplier. "The judicial commission should investigate this scam," he added. "Mobile phones with better specifications are available at cheaper rates in the market. We should know why they were purchased at such a high price. The model, which the company supplied, is also not available in the open market, which makes repair work difficult. Its production was stopped four months ago," Munde said.

Questioning the company's financial worth, he further said, "The firm has a share capital of just R5.50 crore and paid-up capital of only Rs 4.92 crore. However, despite bringing the matter to the chief minister's notice, the purchase order was processed. The CM is protecting his corrupt ministers." Meanwhile, dismissing the allegations as baseless, the department said in a statement that the purchase was transparent and the cost of each phone also included expenditure incurred on specialised device management software, 32GB data card, dust proof pouch and screen protector.

"The purchase was done on the GEM portal in a transparent manner. The state-level purchase committee and high-powered committee approved it. The phone has a specialised software that can help upload information quickly and seamlessly. The warranty period has been extended and the company will also provide special service support in every district," the statement said. It also said that the department had bought 5,100 additional phones according to the guideline of having five per cent more than the ordered stock.

No simultaneous elections, says Fadnavis
Denying reports that Maharashtra would have simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that nothing of this sort was in the pipeline. "No such thing will happen. I can give you in writing [that we not dissolving the Assembly]," he told the media in Nagpur on Thursday.

The elections to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly are due in October this year, but speculations say that they could be advanced and held simultaneously with the general elections. Nationalist Congress Party Chief Spokesperson Nawab Malik said the people would welcome simultaneous polls.

"Both the Central and state governments have been ineffective and anti-people. The state government will be ousted in six months, but if the Assembly elections take place early then it would go out with the Modi government," he said.

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