Bhopal: The officialdom seems to have torpedoed CM Shivraj Singh’s initiative for purchasing onions at the rate of Rs 8 per kg from distressed farmers. At least Rs 50cr worth of onions have gone missing from the Rs-700cr worth stocks purchased by MARKFED on behalf of the state government.
MARKFED was supposed to deliver the entire stock of 8.75 MT onions bought by it to Civil Supplies Corporation. However, even a fortnight after the purchases ceased, only 7 lakh MTs have been handed over to the corporation.
MARKFED claims 5 per cent of the stocks have been spoilt. The government has spent Rs 35 crore on buying this stock. Contd. on P6
Spoilt or siphoned…
In addition, the corporation claims that Rs 15 crore worth of onions received by it have also been spoilt. That means onions worth Rs 50 crore have gone missing. Whether this stock has actually spoilt or has been clandestinely sold to traders is anybody’s guess.
Jnaneshwar Patil, MD of MARKFED says they are sending CAs to districts for accurate estimation of the quantity of procured onions. He said they would pay only as much amount to the purchase centres as was the price of onions actually supplied to the corporation. He said the persons concerned would have to give an explanation if they claim that any quantity of the procured onions has rotten.
Had not expected irregularities in onion purchase:CM
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan convened a meeting to review the entire process of procurement of onions on Thursday following the surfacing of a video in which a GM of Civil Supplies Corporation is shown striking a deal for sale of onions through the backdoor in return for a huge bribe. The CM said he had never expected that the officers would commit irregularities in onion purchase too.
He announced the constitution of a high-level committee for monitoring the disposal of procured stock for next three months. He said special probe teams would be sent to places from where complaints of irregularities came. He also announced the suspension of the secretary of Shajapur mandi.
He said if irregularities were ‘unintentional’, it was fine but if someone had committed any irregularity intentionally, then he would not be spared. At the meeting, the chief secretary directed the officers to prepare a detailed account of the onions purchased.
EOW books, arrests GM
EOW arrested GM of State Civil Supplies Corporation on Thursday after he was suspended on Wednesday for asking bribe of Rs 4 lakh and was caught on hidden camera. EOW has seized the office. The sting operation was conducted at the Bhopal office of the corporation, where a TV reporter, disguised as a trader, requested GM Shrikant Soni to ‘manage’ sale of onions to him. Officials of Chimanganj Mandi, Ujjain, Shujalpur, Maksi and Shajapur had demanded bribe to sell out the onion on very low price, in front of the hidden camera. Contd. on P6
EOW books, arrests…
Traders of Shajapur and Ujjain and mandi brokers took the responsibility that they would manage the officials and help to obtain onion in very low cost.
It is assumed that the trading of onion was going for long and it is possible that these officers and traders have earned huge amount by doing illegal business.
MD of SCSC had requested EOW to conduct the investigation into the matter.
EOW have registered the case under sections 409,420,120-B of IPC, sections 7, 13(1) D and 13 (2) of prevention of corruption act and have arrested the GM.
EOW is also going to seize the documents of Bhopal, Shajapur and Ujjain related to onion purchase and sale.
