About 50 per cent of wheat, 35 per cent of rice and 40 per cent of kerosene allocated to fair price shops to be distributed under the public distribution system (PDS) were diverted to the open market, high-level sources in the State Food and Civil Supplies Department told The Hindu .
Sources told The Hindu that an “influential politician” from Shimoga district master-minded the diversion in collusion with mill owners, ration shop owners, officials, and general managers of wholesale godowns.
Following allegations of the involvement of officials in the diversion, the department recently sacked two food inspectors, suspended eight food inspectors and two deputy directors. The politician, flour mill owners, officials and ration shop owners were the major beneficiaries of the “food racket.” With the rise in the prices of essential commodities, they earned huge profits, sources said.
Interestingly, at the behest of the politician, the department officials had detained two trucks in Shikaripur which were legitimately transporting foodgrains from the Food Corporation of India godown in Shimoga to the Karnataka State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation in Davangere.
Department's Deputy Director of the Shimoga district, following instructions from a “higher authority”, was forced to file a complaint against the transporter, even though there was nothing illegal in the transportation, a top official said. The politician's agents were expecting a bribe from the transporter, the official added.
Last month, the Department Commissioner conducted a raid on private rice mill godowns in Gangavati in Raichur district and seized 1,400 tonnes of PDS rice stored illegally, and a few tonnes of rice and wheat from another godown in Sindhanur taluk. Cases have been filed against both mill owners.
Of the two lakh tonnes of rice allocated for PDS every month, nearly 35 per cent of the quantity reached the open market, particularly in paddy growing districts of Raichur, Koppal, Davangere, Chitradurga, Bijapur and Bagalkot. Similarly, 40 per cent of the 47,000 kilo litres of kerosene allocated for the poor reached the traders, the official said.
Low consumption
In the case of wheat, nearly 50 per cent of 35,000 tonnes of allocated wheat was diverted to the open market. Low consumption of wheat by people of southern districts was another reason for diversion, sources said.
The price of wheat in ration shops was Rs. 3 a kg against Rs. 22 in the open market. The price of rice is Rs. 3 against Rs. 25 in the open market. There are nearly 20,000 ration shops in the State.
Of the 1.26 crore ration cards issued in the State, 98 lakh were below poerty line cards. The Government was giving food subsidies of Rs. 1,300 crore this year.
The Centre provides 83 and 80 per cent of subsidy for Anthodaya and BPL card holders respectively. It provides food subsidy to only to 32 lakh BPL families estimated by the Planning Commission and the State Government is bearing the subsidy for the rest.
Nearly 60 per cent of the BPL cards issued by the Nemmadi Kendras were bogus. “Some individual households are having four BPL cards and the ration shop owners know it,” he said.
The households used additional cards for availing benefits under various government schemes, sources said.
At the same time, the genuinely poor had been denied access to foodgrains.
