Suppliers of tool kits to BC artisans serve notice on Collectors

By M. Malleswara Rao

HYDERABAD, JUNE 18. Legal notices have been issued to Collectors of 16 districts in the State by suppliers of modern tools distributed to backward class artisans under the Adarana scheme launched in February last year.

The suppliers threatened to sue the Collectors of Prakasam, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Anantapur, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Chittoor, Krishna, Guntur, East and West Godavari, Karimanagar, Adilabad, Khammam, Nalgonda and Nellore districts in their personal names for issuing purchase orders without having sufficient funds on hand.

Representatives of the suppliers were at the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu's office the other day seeking justice. After accepting a memorandum, his office advised them to meet the Cabinet Sub-Committee on welfare, headed by the Education Minister, Mr. K. Srihari. One of them, Mr. G.M.K. Rao of Gongala Agencies, who supplied Hitachi and Electrex brand planers, drills and sanders for carpenters, says their next course of action depends on the outcome of the talks with the committee. The dues in Mr. Rao's case from different Collectors is Rs.7.8 lakhs and, through the notice, he is seeking Rs.1.4 lakhs as interest under Section 80 of the Civil Procedure Code.

Mr. I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, MD, Andhra Pradesh BC Finance Corporation, which implemented the scheme estimates put the amount due to all suppliers at Rs.26 crores.

It appears that there is no way out for the Collectors' predicament unless the initiative comes from Chief Minister's level. In the memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister, suppliers referred to the undertaking under which the Collectors were obliged to release 90 per cent of the value of items within six months of the purchase and said some among them are on the brink and may collapse anytime due to lack of running capital.

Adarana, the first scheme launched exclusively for BCs by any Government so far with the intention of helping the artisans, suffered its own teething troubles. Its critics point out that the scheme could reach only those identifiable by skill or trade and not all the 93 listed BC communities. They complain that some tools supplied were of inferior quality. They criticised that the purchase committees "blindly" accepted the rates quoted by the suppliers which were higher than the market prices.

Mr. Krishna Rao, however, says the scheme was a "major success" seen from the fact that a record of 5.5 lakh families were given modern tools, within "a very short" span of five months. Nowhere else such a programme was implemented. A sum of Rs.100 crores was spent on the scheme so far.

Meanwhile, the Vigilance and Enforcement Commissionerate which went into price variation and other irregularities, submitted its report. The Government is considering it.

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