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Deepak Tiwari
Deepak Tiwari

Corruption

Large-scale irregularities in procurement of onions in Madhya Pradesh

onion (File photo) Representational image

Onions are causing embarrassment to Madhya Pradesh government. After procuring nearly nine lakh tonnes of onions, reports of corruption in purchase and subsequent auction are surfacing from various districts. Bhopal, Dhar and Raisen districts have reported serious irregularities.

Following the agitation by farmers, around nine lakh metric tonnes of onions were procured by the state government at a price of Rs 8 per kg. The government spent over Rs 600 crore for procurement and transportation of the produce.

The leader of opposition in the state assembly Ajay Singh alleged that huge corruption took place during procurement where traders took full advantage by selling cheap onions to government. Claiming that there was a nexus between traders and government officials, he said there was a discrepancy in the amount of purchase shown on records and the actual amount that was procured. The whole purchase reeks of a scam, he added.

Collector of Dhar, in a report sent to the government, pointed out serious irregularities committed by deputy commissioner, co-operative committees, district marketing manager of civil supplies corporation and GM of the district co-operative bank. According to sources, over Rs 4 crore were misappropriated by inflating the figures of onion purchase. Collector has recommended action against the accused.

In the report sent to the state government, he said “Procurement continued till June 30 at the purchase centre of co-operative committee, Nagda. On July 3, the centre, in its report, showed the total purchase as 1.64 lakh quintals. However, in the final report, submitted on July 10, the figure jumped to 2.19 lakh quintals.’’ He expressed suspicions over the sudden rise of procurement figures within seven days.

According to sources, a district level committee, appointed to look into the matter, found that before the final figures of the purchase were declared, the centre, on July 4, began the process of destroying the spoilt stocks. Later, when the declared spoilt stocks were checked, it was found that 860 mts of onions were usable. The committee informed that 2,498 mts of onions were destroyed. However, no permission was taken for destroying the procured produce.

Similarly media reports pointed that 4,900 metric tonnes of of onion was auctioned in Raisen at a price of Rs 2.5 per kg while the highest bid received was of Rs 3.26 per kg.

Earlier last week, Shrikant Soni, general manager of MP civil supplies corporation was arrested by Economic Offences Wing of police after he was caught in a sting operation demanding a bribe of Rs 5 lakh for making onion available at a lower price to the traders.

Soni was arrested under sections of 409 ( criminal breach of trust by public servant) , 420 (cheating) , 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and sections 7 ,13(1) and 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, an EOW official said.

The state government, through marketing federation, procured a total of 8,76,000 metric tonnes of onion during a one month period. According to a state government release, majority of this has already been auctioned.

It said due to high quantity of purchase and the government's inability to store and dispose such a huge stock, nearly 20 per cent of onion has damaged.

The government has bought onions from 1,54,000 farmers, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

While the reports of scam in purchasing of onions is coming from various centres all over the state, thousand tonnes of onions is rotting away at various procurement centre as there are no facilities to store it. After having procured nine lakh tones for a price of Rs 8 per kg, the government now plans to sell 100 kg for just Rs 5 fearing its decay.

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Topics : #Madhya Pradesh

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