Before its implementation on April 1, the much-touted subsidised lunch scheme Aahar for the urban poor announced by the State Government, has run into rough weather over awarding of the contract to provide food to two NGOs without inviting tenders for it.
Civil society organisation Sahara Janamancha has lodged a written complaint with the Urban Development Minister in this regard. In the complaint, it has alleged that the department had roped in two organisations, Touchstone Foundation and Manna Trust, arbitrarily without following the tendering process.
Had the Government invited tender for the Rs 5-meal scheme, many nonprofit and voluntary organisations would have come forward to offer lunch at Rs 15 comprising rice and dalma to the beneficiaries. The cost of a lunch would have been thus reduced by Rs 5 and would have resulted in savings of around Rs 4.5 crore annually, the organisation has argued.
Besides, the Urban Development Department has not put in place a mechanism to supervise the number of meals to be prepared on a daily basis. In addition to this, the corporate houses would entrust the task of sourcing grocery and other kitchen requirements to private parties. This raises the possibility of possible fixing between the parties, the Sahara Janamancha has argued. If the department doesn’t invite fresh tenders, the organisation would be forced to knock at the doors of court, it has threatened.
As per Government estimate, each meal would cost around Rs 20, but only Rs 5 would be collected from a beneficiary for which around Rs 10.98 crore per annum would be required to meet the expenditure towards providing meals at the subsidised rate.
The Government has signed MoUs with corporate houses to bear the expenses to provide meals to 4,000 people each in five cities in the State from April 1, coinciding with the State’s 79th foundation day.
The Government has roped in the Touchstone Foundation, a subsidiary of the Akshay Patra Foundation, and the Manna Trust to manage the centralised kitchen and Aahaar outlets in the five cities. While the Akshay Patra Foundation would be managing the outlets in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Rourkela, the Manna Trust would be looking after the Brahmapur and Sambalpur outlets. The meals would be available between 11 am and 3 pm at the outlets.