4858 - PDS supplies for Delhi’s poor being diverted to private flour mills - Niti Central

PDS supplies for Delhi’s poor being diverted to private flour mills

By Niticentral Staff on October 15, 2013

A few months ago, the UPA Government went ahead with its extravagant Food Security Bill, despite opposition from all quarters, including BJP, which saw the inevitable and hence proved it that the Centre’s aim was only to indulge in more corruption. While the principal Opposition insisted that the prevailing Public Distribution Systems be taken into account, as BJP ruled States like Chhattisgarh have excelled in utilising these systems to address the needs of the poor, UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi brushed it aside and insisted upon her version of the Bill be passed as an Act.

However, a recent sting operation carried out by Headlines Today special investigation team’s hidden cameras caught the pilferage of grain meant for poor in the National Capital under the Public Distribution System.  The operation exposes Congress’s lies on delivering the benefits of its schemes to the needy.

For this chilling revelation, the team didn’t have to travel too far to get the real picture. The team’s journey that began from Parliament, where the Food Security Bill was passed about a couple of months ago, came to a halt barely a few kilometres away, when they came across a Food Corporation of India (FCI) depot from where the grains at controlled rates are channelled out to fill the coffers of traders who wield enough influence to short circuit the system.

A truck, bearing registration No DL 1M 1475 loaded with PDS grain, started from the FCI godown. However, instead of reaching out to the allocated Government-run ration shops, it changed the route and headed towards Lawrence Road, where most of the big flour mills are located.

However, the team continued to follow the  truck and reached Lawrence Road. The truck stopped near a big private flour mill. It was shocking to  see that the wheat meant for the poor had actually reached Golden Flour Mill in Delhi.

It was not the only truck that went off track. Another truck (No. – HR 55E 1145) also reached Lawrence Road and stopped at Hathi brand flour mill. More trucks (Nos. – DL 1GB 4035 and DL 1G B 3953) were captured by Headlines 

Today cameras as they ferried wheat at controlled price, which was supposed to be made available to the Delhi’s hungry at Rs.7 per kg, to other private flour mills. It was clearly written on these sacks that those were meant for distribution under PDS.

The channel’s cameras also captured four trucks ferrying food grains to benefit the private mill owners. When the team countered and questioned them about the activities, they admitted on hidden cameras how the PDS wheat was essential to run these factories. They also revealed that they had no fear of Police, indicating the mill owner’s involvement in this scam, which has been running under the nose of Delhi Food and Civil Supplies Minister Haroon Yusuf.

The man also confessed that the Government stamps are also removed from the sacks. His next admission was even more startling as he claimed that no flour mill in the National Capital could function without the siphoning of the PDS grains. The team then called the Police after the shocking revelation of diversion of food grains meant for PDS. A Sub-Inspector led the Headlines Today team inside the store of a private flour mill. The team came across sacks full of PDS grain.

Meanwhile, a person involved in the transport of grains also reached the spot trying to talk his way out of the tight corner. It was even more evident from a receipt showed by him that the truck had just transported wheat meant for PDS shops, i.e., Garg Provision Store in Laxmi Nagar and Sabir Ali Sarfaraz Shop in Vishwas Nagar to Hathi Flour Mill, Lawrence Road.

The Police, however, locked the store and took the trucks to Keshavpuram Police Station but 24 hours after getting the trucks seized, the team found out that the truck was released. When they questioned about the whereabouts of the trucks, the Station House Officer (SHO) Ramnivas revealed the trucks had been released as nothing was found wrong after verifying with the FCI and the excise department.

The SHO claimed that the truck was released and the mill gates were unlocked at the behest of Delhi Food & Civil Supply department’s enforcement team. 

Headlines Today then approached Food and Civil Supply department’s enforcement inspector Ambesh Kumar. But to their shock, the said official just refused to acknowledge the visual proof. In fact, he declared that the vehicles never went wayward and had off-loaded grain at the right destination. He even produced proof that the consignments were delivered at the right place.

However, the team was not ready to accept that the same vehicle could dump the same stock at two different destinations. The team then met Delhi’s food and civil supplies commissioner Sajjan Singh Yadav, who admitted that the loot has been almost a regular affair in the city.

Meanwhile, an insider on a hidden camera revealed that how things operate in this entire scam. The person involved in transporting the wheat said the diverted stock is sold to private mills at a lower price and the ration shop owners used hundreds of duplicate ration cards to siphon off the grains meant for the down-trodden.

He also revealed that officials from top to bottom of the concerned departments get a cut from around Rs 200 profit earned by diverting each sack of wheat. This racket cannot function without connivance of everyone from the local police to the food inspector, he said. When the pilferage of these grains has been so rampant in New Delhi, then how can Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi say so confidently that food grains will be given to every poor of the country?

The UPA Government’s promise was busted, which will cost the exchequer a Rs 1.25 lakh crore a year to satisfy the hunger of country’s poor as the new scheme might also just go down the drain.