Activist accuses min of rushing Rs 4,500 cr transport tender; dept refutes claim

Activist accuses min of rushing Rs 4,500 cr transport tender; dept refutes claimTimes News NetworkMumbai: Anti-corruption activist Anjali Damania has accused food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal of pushing work orders for a Rs 4,500 crore contract to transport foodgrains under Maharashtra’s public distribution system (PDS), despite the Aurangabad bench of Bombay high court temporarily restraining the state from issuing such orders.“The cartel of contractors has been getting transport work for over two decades. The Aurangabad bench of HC has issued an order, saying the state govt should not issue a work order till June 22. The state govt needs to uproot this cartelisation and should intervene in this tender process,” Damania alleged.The food and civil supplies department denied the allegations and clarified no transporter has been awarded a work order so far. “All future decisions and actions related to the tender process will be taken strictly in compliance with the directions issued by the court,” said a department statement.The controversy comes days after the Aurangabad bench granted interim relief in a petition filed by IMS Bhatia Transport Contractor, which has challenged the ongoing tender process to appoint transport contractors for a three-year period from 2026 to 2029.The dispute is part of a long-running legal battle over Maharashtra’s policy of awarding large-scale foodgrain transport contracts under the PDS. Transporters have alleged that the eligibility conditions favour a cartel of large contractors and exclude smaller players.According to the petition, the state issued a govt resolution (GR) on April 21, 2026, introducing a new transport policy. Three days later, it issued another GR allegedly under political and financial pressure from existing contractors. The petitioner claimed the revised conditions were designed so that only the existing contractor lobby could fulfil them, while prohibiting joint ventures.