30K quintal wheat meant for PDS rots in Karnal

Even as people are suffering due to an unprecedented rise in the wheat prices, nearly 30,000 quintals of procured wheat worth ₹5.92 crore was found rotting in open plinths at Jundla in Karnal district.

As per officials, 60,000 wheat bags (50kg each) were stored after procurement by the Haryana food and civil supplies department in 2020-21 at the minimum support price (MSP) of ₹1,975 per quintal and it was stored in open plinths at a rented facility for the distribution under the public distribution system.

Even the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has declared it non-issuable and now the food and supplies department has written to the government for the auction of the rotten wheat at lower prices.

Officials said the delay in lifting and heavy rains damaged the wheat as it cannot be stored in the open for long.

As per officials, the grains were turning black with mildew after getting soaked in the rain and it was declared non-issuable in March 2022.

Karnal district food and supplies controller Anil Kalra has confirmed that the damaged wheat was procured in 2020-21. This is the second incident in the district in the past one year as last year also, 7,488 tonnes of wheat procured in 2019-20 was also rotting in open plinths at Jundla and Assandh of the district.

An official of the Karnal food and civil supplies department said the wheat should have been lifted next year of the procurement but due to the delay in lifting, it was rotting. He said they have also written to the higher authorities and the auction of this rotten wheat will be done soon and accountability will be fixed after assessing the actual loss after auction.

Paramjeet Singh, manager, FCI, Jundla, said the wheat was declared non-issuable in March last year after it failed to meet the required criteria.

Even around 3,200 metric tonnes of wheat meant for public distribution was lying in open plinths for the last three years at a grain market in Pundri in Kaithal district in November last year.

The rotten wheat has become a political hot potato for the BJP-JJP government in Haryana as the opposition parties raised this issue on several occasions.

“Chronology of the ‘anti-poor’ Khattar-Dushyant government, 30,000 quintals of wheat spoiled in Karnal, wheat worth ₹22 crore spoiled in Kaithal, 1,560 MT wheat spoiled in Yamunanagar. Outcome - the poor got rotten ration from depot, forced to buy ₹3,000 per quintal wheat from the market! Who is responsible?” tweeted Congress leader Randeep Surjewala.

In November last year, deputy CM Dushyant Chautala had announced that a committee had been constituted and strict action would be taken against those found guilty and the spoiled wheat would be auctioned. The remaining cost would be recovered from the officials held responsible for the damage.

Pankaj Aggarwal commissioner and secretary, food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department, said the matter has been brought to his knowledge and he has sought comments from the officials concerned and accountability will also be fixed. He said that a committee to investigate the incidents of rotten wheat in the state are being examined and this case will also be investigated by the administrative secretary as there are lapses on the part of officials.

He said last year the food and civil supplies department had detected 44,938 MT of rotten wheat in various open plinths in Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra, and Fatehabad and later it was auctioned as per the grading report and the government earned around ₹44 crore.

Wheat prices in the open market have reached around ₹3,000 a quintal as last year the overall production of wheat reached 106.84 million tonnes, reporting a dip of 2.75 million tonnes as compared to 109.59 million tonnes estimated during the 2020-21 season.