Eknath Khadse defends hologram tender

Two days after the state government scrapped a tender process for hologram technology to curb the sale of spurious liquor, former revenue and excise minister Eknath Khadse has defended the decision. In a recent Facebook post, Mr Khadse said the decision of introducing hologram technology was taken by the Cabinet and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis held two meetings in this regard giving instruction on the technology. He also referred to rules that any decision should go before the Cabinet for cancellation, as the Cabinet is responsible for it.

“The process of putting holograms on the liquor bottles is in practice from the last four to five years. The Cabinet took (the) hologram decision on April 18, 2016. The government issued the notification on May 27, 2016 and the tender process was started on June 4, 2016. The chief minister himself instructed about the hologram technology by holding meetings twice,” Mr Khadse said on his Facebook post.

The former minister explained the long process behind the decision and said that it went through various filters. “An experienced consultant, Ms Darashaw And Company, advised to use holograms with track and trace facility. A committee headed by the principal secretary of the excise department checked the recommendations and prepared a proposal, which was approved by the chief secretary before the Cabinet nod. The Cabinet decision should go before the Cabinet again for cancellation. It is the responsibility of the entire Cabinet and not a single minister,” Mr Khadse added further.

Mr Khadse was registering his reaction after the chief minister remarked that the tender conditions were not proper and mentioned the complaints made to him about the tendering. The tender was of Rs 1,000 crore and was scrapped by the state government on recommendation of current excise minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule, who took over the department after Mr Khadse.

This is not the first time the chief minister has closely scrutinised the decisions taken by Mr Khadse. After Mr Khadse resigned owing to corruption charges, about 100 decisions taken by him came under the scanner of the CMO.