Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai on Sunday claimed the State would incur a loss of ₹77 crore in a tender for purchasing maternal nutrition kits, a charge rejected by Health Minister Ma. Subramanian, who pointed out that the bids were yet to be opened.
At a press conference in Chennai, Mr. Annamalai alleged that the health mix provided as part of the maternal nutrition kit by a private company was expensive by about 60% compared to Aavin and the iron syrup supplement was around ₹180/unit more compared to the ones procured by the Tamil Nadu Medical Supplies Corporation.
However, Mr. Subramanian told reporters that the financial bids for the tender would be opened only in a couple of days and so the BJP leader’s allegation of any loss does not arise. “How is it [allegation] fair when the tender has not yet opened? He has to prove his charges,” Mr Subramanian said.
Earlier, Mr. Annamalai claimed that certain individuals were arm-twisting officials to help specific companies bag the tender. Providing copies of certain orders from government departments, Mr. Annamalai said while Aavin’s health mix was initially selected to be part of the kit replacing another company’s, it was subsequently withdrawn.
Mr. Annamalai told The Hindu a fresh tender should be called, and Aavin should be allowed to participate in it. “All the companies that were part of providing the sub-standard Pongal gift scheme items must not be allowed to participate in the fresh tender,” he said. When asked about the Minister’s statement that the bid would be opened only after two days, Mr. Annamalai claimed that the winner of the bid would be the same company that provided the Pongal gift scheme kits, alleging that there were huge kickbacks involved in the current tender.
Mr. Subramanian, however, told reporters that whatever could be sourced from Aavin, such as the health mix, would be sourced from the agency. “If it can be bought only at Aavin, they will buy it there. Aavin does not have the iron syrup [that is part of the kit]. It has to be bought only externally. Once the bids are opened, if there is some truth to his statements, we will take action,” he said.
Separately, the Health Department issued a statement that the iron syrup provided in the kit was approved by nutritionists in 2018 [during the AIADMK regime], and a 200 ml bottle was procured at ₹74.65 each while the market rate was ₹112, saving ₹37.35 per bottle.
On the issue of Aavin’s health mix powder, the department said the allegation that PRO-PL health mix was procured at a higher rate was baseless and wrong. “The Aavin dairy whitener powder does not have the same composition as the PRO-PL and no decision could be reached in the April 8 meeting on the possibilities of Aavin manufacturing the powder. Also, there were no complaints about the PRO-PL health mix being distributed since 2018,” the department said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Annamalai also claimed that the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) was favouring only one specific private real estate promoter and approvals were being processed in record time of a few days for the company while all other realtors had to go through the regular and lengthy process of getting approvals.
