Maharashtra Government finds a unique PPP model!

During our childhood, we have heard of stories of a Fox and Bear who agree for collaborative cultivation. For the first crop they agree that whatever grows above the soil belongs to Fox and whatever grows underneath the soil belongs to the Bear. Fox suggests that they grow tomatoes. Bear works hard and when the cultivation is ready, Fox walks off with all tomatoes and the Bear is unhappy. Fox convinces the bear for the next crop and agrees that what grows above the soil will now belong to the Bear and what grows underneath the soil belongs to the Fox. Bear agrees. Fox suggests that they grow ..potatoes…. so the story goes…

It appears that Maharashtra Government has now implemented a PPP model of a similar nature where the Government and Mumbai Police in particular will promote a PPP project in which all the revenue goes to a private party while the Government and the Police is only used to promote the project for the benefit of the private partner.

I refer to a project called coin.org.in which is projected as a platform for global law enforcement people with information, training and support for investigation of cyber crimes. However it also invites public to become members of the project at a membership cost upto Rs 24000/- per year.

The website however does not provide any information on the revenue sharing between the Government and the Private partner.

Some time back, we had exposed the case of  e2labs which had used the Union Home Ministry, CERT IN etc to promote its business and tried to convince investors to invest in its company. On verification with CERT IN it was found that the claims made by e2labs in the investment promotion presentation prepared by a well known investment banker, were false . The information was later withdrawn.

Presently the coin.org.in project appears to be heading in the same direction.

For records, we appreciate the nature of the venture. We have no issue of the project being a commercial project. However, using the Government and Mumbai Police to project as if this is a Government project but retaining the entire commercial revenue with itself is not considered ethical. The disclosures on the website as of now donot provide a truthful representation of the status of the project and there is every attempt to mislead and misrepresent the public to give an impression that this is a joint venture with Mumbai Police. The previous Mumbai Commissioner Mr Rakesh Maria’s speech made at the time of launching of the website has been  used for promotion along with the name of the Chief Minister Mr Fadnavis who inaugurated the event in which the website was launched.

We here by call upon the Maharashtra Government and the Mumbai Police to clarify

a) if they have an equity stake in the project and a claim on the revenue and if so what is the share distribution?.

b) If not, will they clarify if they are happy with the use of the Government for promotion with the revenue being entirely kept by the private partner? Or

c) Was the project envisaged as a non-profit venture and the private promoter has introduced a commercial element without the knowledge of the Government?

We also call upon the Private partner to clarify the nature of arrangement between them and the Government and whether they have the permission to put Rakesh Maria’s speech on the website copyright of which is claimed by them.

We request both the Government and the Private partner to review their arrangement and make the service as a free service (which may be restricted to the law enforcement personnel if required) and remove the commercial aspects of the project.

If there has to be a commercial project in which the Government wants to pass on benefits to a private party, there will be needless questions on what was the procedure adopted in selection of the private partner, whether any public notice was given of such a project, whether any other entities competed for the project etc.. All these will raise the issue of “Transparency” in Government administration and I request the BJP Government in Maharashtra not to make yet another mistake that may show Mr Narendra Modi in bad light.

Naavi