While government babus hide behind Model Code of Conduct for delay, manufacturers of freebies allege government owed them dues running into hundreds of crores of Rupees.

The Jayalalithaa government was going around distributing free mixies, grinders and table fans to beneficiaries but could not beat the model code of conduct, leaving thousands of women disappointed. The model code of conduct kicked in on March 4 after election commission announced elections in Tamil Nadu.

But that is not the only reason for the disruption in distribution of freebies. Manufacturers of mixies, grinders and table fans have a different story to tell, of delayed payments and untold problems from the sales tax and income tax departments.

M Radhakrishnan, President, Coimbatore Wet Grinder Manufacturers’ Association, told Covaipost that the government owed a whopping Rs 400 crore to the manufacturers, an amount which is outstanding since the past seven months. “As per the agreement the manufacturers signed with the government, dues had to be cleared within 10 days.

We took loans from the banks for the projects. But now that several crores of rupees are outstanding, we are not even able to repay interests on the loans, what to speak of the principal amount.”

Manufacturers are also under extreme pressure from the sales tax and income tax departments, he said. But with election code kicking in, the manufacturers have also given up. And since distribution was held up due to the model code of conduct, lakhs of mixies, grinders and table fans are lying dumped in government warehouses, just like the countless television sets during the last days of the Karunanidhi led DMK government in 2011.

After the government changed, no official bothered about the television sets, that soaked in rain and got damaged. In fact, the Comptroller and Auditor General had, in 2012, slammed the Jayalalithaa government for its apathy that resulted in disuse of 95,725 television sets that lay unused in government godowns for close to two years. It resulted in a loss of nearly 4 crore, the CAG noted in its report.

The AIADMK cadres and leaders would want the people to believe that it was only due to the model code of conduct that thousands of women were deprived of the freebies promised by Amma. “They will surely get them once the elections are over,” said a senior AIADMK leader asserting that Jayalalithaa will come back as the chief minister.

“So there is no need to worry. In fact, AIADMK cadres are going around and telling people that flood relief as well as freebies would reach them once elections are over. Over 5 lakh women beneficiaries are yet to receive the freebies promised by AIADMK general secretary in 2011 assembly election campaign.

Officially, her government had allocated a sum of Rs 2000 crore in the budget for these freebies. And as per the policy note tabled by minister of information and special programme implementation, Rajenthra Balaji in the assembly, over 5 lakh women have to receive the goodies yet.

Government warehouses are bursting with some 20 lakh items, waiting for distribution, a government official admitted.

The minister said in the policy note that nearly 1.85 crore women from families holding family cards were eligible for the freebies and were drawing rice and receiving packages in a phased manner. He gave a breakdown during 2011-12, about 25 lakh beneficiaries were covered.

In 2012-13 and 2013-14, it was 35 lakh beneficiaries each year, bringing the total to 95 lakh eligible women. Now some 90 lakh women were to get the freebies in 2014-15 and 2015-16, as per the amount of money already allocated in the budget.

Even if one went by government achievement of previous years, it still left over 5 lakh women without freebies. This is only a conservative estimate and the beneficiaries left out could be more in number. The government officials have another reason for the delay in distribution of freebies. “Delay in supply of goods from the companies held up distribution of freebies,” the official said. But the manufacturers have a different story to tell, of pending dues from the government.