Week-long strike ends, food grain movement to resume
On Thursday, the staff finally agreed to resume work after the assurance that a system will be devised so that the Vigilance Bureau does not harass honest and genuine staff members
: On strike for a week, the staff and officers of the Punjab food and civil supplies department and its four procurement agencies have decided to resume work from Friday.
The department on Thursday asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to resume loading of food grains from the state to be sent to the consumer states, where stocks had been depleting fast in the absence of new arrivals from Punjab.
Around 50,000 tonnes of wheat and rice are expected to be transported to the consumer states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.
“We have issued an indent for loading 25 specials (goods trains) from the state from Friday. The number of specials will be increased gradually depending on the grain requirement in consumers states,” said Hemant Kumar Jain, general manager for FCI in Punjab – the central agency that drives food grains across the nation for public distribution.
“We would have transported 2.5 lakh tonnes more food grain over the past few weeks had the work not been stalled,” said Jain, hoping to cover up the gap in the coming weeks.
Apart from the freshly procured paddy during the season that ended on November 30, Punjab currently has around 23 lakh tonnes of rice and 35 lakh tonnes of wheat. FCI also maintains it stocks, which has 1.75 lakh tonnes of rice and 4 lakh tonnes of wheat.
Strike called off after top-level deliberations
For the past two days, deliberations had been underway between the officers, staff, top department officials and the minister in charge, Lal Chand Kataruchak.
On Thursday, the staff finally agreed to resume work after the assurance that a system will be devised so that state’s investigating agency does not harass honest and genuine staff members and officers.
The staff had announced to move on strike from November 24, a day after the Vigilance Bureau arrested two district food and civil supplies controllers in connection with the ₹2,000-crore food grain transportation scam, for which former food and civil supplies minister of the previous Congress regime, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, was arrested in August.
The two officers and the former minister are currently in judicial custody. The bail application of the two officers is listed for hearing in court on December 9.
A joint action committee (JAC) of the department and four procurement agencies’ staff has also demanded cancellation of case against the two officers.
‘No immunity for corrupt practices’
According to principal secretary of the food and civil supplies department, Rahul Bhandari, the matter was discussed at the top-most level of chief secretary and will be taken up with the vigilance department, so that the honest officers and staff members of the department were not troubled by the state’s investigating agency and a system be devised for taking record from the department.
“However, we have made it very clear that those indulging in unfair means and corrupt practices will have no immunity,” added Bhandari.