Contract for school notebooks terminated on CM's order: Savara

Maharashtra Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Savara today said the contract awarded for procurement and distribution of notebooks worth Rs 19.50 crore to tribal students was terminated following Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' order to this effect.
Savara, while replying to NCP MLC Sunil Tatkare's question in the House, said the Tribal Development Department had decided to procure notebooks for tribal children across the state via e-tendering system.
However, the quality controller rejected the consignment after it failed to quality tests, he said.
"Following the quality controller's rejection, the CM decided to terminate the entire contract," Savara said.
The minister claimed that there were no irregularities in awarding the contract as the buying process was not completed and the contractor was not paid anything.

"We had awarded the contract via e-tendering procedure and initially 11 companies had filed tenders. Out of these, three companies were found eligible for the contract," he said.
In the chaos that followed Savara's explanation, Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar directed all legislators to call for a joint meeting and discuss the issues.