Hindustan Times (Bathinda)

Foodgrain movement comes to a halt, FCI presses panic button

- Gurpreet Singh Nibber gurpreet.nibber@htlive.com

: The functionin­g of the state food and civil supplies department has come to a standstill with the ongoing strike by the across-the-ranks staff and officers entering the sixth day on Monday, so much so that the Food Corporatio­n of India (FCI) has pressed the panic button, asking the state to resolve the matter. The indefinite strike has adversely impacted lifting of the freshly procured paddy crop, which is in the last leg, and the movement of food grains (wheat and rice) from the state to consumer states.

FCI chairman-cum-managing director Ashok Kumar K Meena on Monday took up the matter with the top government officials, asking them to make efforts to end the strike at the earliest. “It is a serious matter. Not only are the FCI and the consumer states at the receiving end, Punjab also has to bear heavy losses. A stop on the movement of grains from the state means stop in payments and once the time frame for cash credit limit drawn (by the state) ends, the state will have to bear interest,” said Meena.

FCI wrote to dept’s principal secy last week

“As you are aware that the state of Punjab is the highest contributo­r of rice and wheat in the central pool and non-loading of food grains due to the strike will adversely affect the timely availabili­ty of sufficient food grains in the consuming regions and it may lead to disruption of supply under NFSA and PMGKY,” reads a last week’s communicat­ion, addressed to department’s principal secretary Rahul Bhandari by Hemant Kumar Jain, general manager for FCI in Punjab – the central agency that drives food grains across the nation for public distributi­on. The communicat­ion adds that this strike may adversely affect squaring up the cash credit limit account of last year’s rabi (wheat) marketing season of Punjab, as wheat liquidatio­n of crop year 2021-22 has to be completed before the end of December 2022. “Further, the strike may also result into delay in acceptance of custom milled rice (CMR) by FCI and payment of the state government,” adds the communique.

Strike underway since November 23

Subsequent to the arrest of two district food and supplies controller­s (DFSCS) on November 23 in connection with the ₹2,000-cr food grain transporta­tion scam, the department’s staff – from the level of clerks to inspectors, assistant food and supplies officers, DFSCS and field deputy directors across the state – announced to move on an indefinite strike the same day.

The two officers – Sukhwinder Singh Gill and Harveen Kaur – who in the past were posted at Ludhiana, the home district of former food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu during the Congress party regime, are accused of irregulari­ties in the tenders for movement of food grains.

The strike call was given by Punjab Procuring Agencies Joint Co-ordination Committee, which has state’s procuremen­t agencies – Markfed, Pungrain, Punsup and State Ware Housing Corporatio­n as members.

The coordinati­on committee has demanded withdrawal of the cases against the food department officers and that the officer concerned be informed before initiating action based on anonymous complaints.

On being contacted, Bhandari accepted that the department’s functionin­g had suffered and said efforts were being made to resolve the matter at the earliest. Before the strike started last week, at least 75,000 to 80,000 tonnes of wheat and rice stocks were being moved out of the state on a daily basis.

FCI ASKS STATE GOVT TO RESOLVE MATTER, AS STRIKE HAS ALSO IMPACTED LIFTING OF THE FRESHLY PROCURED PADDY CROP

 ?? PTI FILE ?? Before the strike started last week, at least 75,000 to 80,000 tonnes of wheat and rice stocks were being moved out of the state to consumer states on a daily basis, in 30 to 35 goods trains.
PTI FILE Before the strike started last week, at least 75,000 to 80,000 tonnes of wheat and rice stocks were being moved out of the state to consumer states on a daily basis, in 30 to 35 goods trains.

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