Chhattisgarh News: Purushottam character. Gariaband. Now the Cooperative Department seems to be involved in a cover-up in the matter of sacks of paddy missing from the procurement center. 18 days after the disclosure of this whole matter, the shortage has reduced, but the offtake of 10300 metric tonnes is still hanging in the balance.
Recently, it was revealed that 16,000 bags of paddy were missing in more than 40 out of 90 procurement centers in the district. Its price was more than Rs 2 crore. After the matter came to light, Collector Deepak Aggarwal had asked the nodal of the Cooperative Department and Saharki Bank to submit the investigation report. The Collector had also said that if there was really no irregularity or sacks had gone missing, he had given the task of eliminating the shortage within a week.
But in the meantime, the Cooperative Department kept trying to give clarification regarding the missing sack by giving many arguments in its report, kept giving various arguments to cover up the shortcomings but no clarification worked.
There may be a ban on payments of more than Rs 2 crore of co-operative bank
The Collector found the co-operative bank, which was handling the responsibility of monitoring the procurement system, to be the weak link in the case. In a letter issued on April 9 from the Collector Food Branch to the Secretary of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, it was said that the cooperative banks or nodal officers could not discharge their responsibilities. Citing government instructions, they were asked to ensure zero shortage in all procurement centres, but no attention was paid. Adequate interest was not taken in procurement preparation, physical verification, gunny bags, storage and security arrangements in the procurement centres. In many centres, stacks were constructed without dewatering due to which the quality of paddy was affected due to getting wet in the rain.
It has been written in the letter that action will be taken to stop the reimbursement amount given to the cooperative bank at the rate of Rs 5 per quintal by Markfed for monitoring. Confirming this letter, District Food Officer Sudhir Guru said that 48.61 lakh metric tonnes of paddy has been purchased in the district, the reimbursement amount is more than Rs 2 crore, for which a letter has been written to stop the payment.
Cooperative department maintains silence, assistant registrar is not picking up the phone
Since the revelation of the matter, the Cooperative Department is on the defensive. In the last 18 days, the number of missing paddy sacks has decreased from 16700 to 2600. The shortage in 17 procurement centers has been reported as 0. The uptake has reached 99.5 percent in 57 centres. But there are 13 centers where the department is struggling to compensate for the missing sacks of paddy on record. According to the report, there is still 10,300 metric tonnes of paddy left to be lifted. At the end of the purchase, the department has placed a demand for seepage sack i.e. additional sack to whiten the black yellow, which has not been approved yet. Called Usha Dhruv, Assistant Registrar of Cooperatives, to talk about the matter but she did not receive her mobile.