The sensational news from Jaipur that FCI godowns are being used to store liquor cartons while valuable wheat is getting rotten out side, attracted country-wide attention and even the agricultural minister of GOI disowned any responsibility for what happened in Rajasthan.
Prima facie it may look like a criminal action that cannot be condoned at a time when GOI is looking for storage place for 10 million tons of food grains procured. But a more careful consideration will reveal that every body has to share the blame for such an unfortunate situation. If one looks at the policy of the government, storage structures are leased out as a routine procedure when food grains are not available for storage and in this particular case
the godown under the scanner was leased out to one of the state government enterprises for 3 years when it was empty. What cannot be condoned is the callousness with which more than 1000 tons of wheat was "dumped" in the open without any protection in the proximity, exposing it to birds and animals.
"However, FCI General Manager (Rajasthan unit) M L Nagpal a news agency that the warehouses leased out to Rajasthan State Breweries Limited Corporation in Jaipur were being vacated because of shortage of space to keep foodgrains. Justifying the lease given to the state government undertaking, he said premises lying empty were leased out all over the country as per its policy and refuted reports of any irregularities in leasing out the warehouses. He said as per the policy, FCI warehouses were leased out at Jaipur, Jalore and Alwar in 2007 since they were lying empty and unused".
It is the short sighted policy of GOI and insensitive officials vested with the responsibility of grain storage that led to the sorry situation in Jaipur. For a minister of GOI to disown responsibility for the fiasco shows the utter disregard for the interests of the citizens in this country and how such a person can be entrusted with the task of ensuring food security for future is beyond comprehension.
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