The Madhya Pradesh Government has stopped the distribution of smart phones under it’s much touted free of cost smart phone scheme to college students amid complaints of sub-standard quality of the handsets.

It is alleged that procurement of the handsets was done through a "shady" tendering process in a bid to help a particular company having "zero turnover."

Though the BJP-led state Government had announced distribution of smart phones to undergraduates in 2013, the actual purchase of the handsets started only in May 2016, after a tender was floated by the MP Electronics Development Corporation (MPSEDC).

"We have stopped the distribution of smart phones to the college students following complaints and reports of sub-standard (quality of) phones," said MPSEDC chief general manager Tilak Raj Kapoor.

He said the corporation had allotted the contract to supply 3.75 lakh smart phones to a private company, out of which 1,30,000 phones, have been distributed to the students of government colleges in various districts so far.

Kapoor said the chief ministers secretariat had also inquired about the quality of the smart phones, following which the corporation submitted a report.

He said most of these phones were distributed in the remote areas of the state.

On the other hand, a non-political organisation Vichar Madhya Pradesh has accused the government of deceiving students by providing them "sub-standard" phones. Terming the purchase of cell phones a "multi-crore scam", the organisation has demanded an enquiry by a high-level committee. "The phones of forstar amosta 3G5 model given to the students were not usable due to poor quality. The phones camera gets on if one unlocks the set. Besides, many buttons of the phone are non-functional. This is an indication that the phones were purchased only to benefit a particular company," Akshay Hunka, a member of Vichar Madhya Pradesh, told reporters.