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Journalism of Courage
The Government’s move to import 23 lakh tonnes of wheat at a far higher cost than originally stated by the State Trading Corporation (STC) is already a political controversy with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) currently holding an inquiry into the tendering and pricing process. Now the quality of 9.2 lakh tonnes of the 15 tonnes that landed is in question with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) trading charges with STC and informing the Food Ministry that the stocks received were “inferior,” failed quality tests and “would not give a healthy picture among the general public at large.”
The Sunday Express has obtained correspondence between the FCI, STC and the Food Ministry as well as the lab analysis results of nine samples of imported red wheat which landed in Mundra (1.25 lakh tonnes of Russian wheat) and Kandla (7.95 lakh tonnes from Glencore) which show presence of “foreign matter, damaged, shrivelled and broken” grain exceeding “contractual limits.”
While the total contractual limit for damaged grains and foreign matter (mostly chaff) is 7 per cent, the four tested samples showed a total of between 10%-11% (see chart).
Food Ministry officials said that of the 15 lakh tonnes of imported wheat stocks — from which samples were picked for testing — around 10 lakh tonnes have been distributed nationwide, including through the public distribution system.
The tests were conducted by the FCI at the Institute of Food Security (IFS), Gurgaon, and sent to Food Secretary T Nanda Kumar on October 30 last year. Following this, charges were traded between FCI and STC and a high-level meeting on the subject was held at STC headquarters on November 7 where a modified scheme of joint sampling before laboratory tests was mooted.
While FCI chairman Alok Sinha was not available for comment, STC’s Director N K Mathur said the “discrepancies” in sample quality cropped up since STC’s testing by two Government agencies conformed with standards of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules but FCI conducted its own post-landing tests.
“As per our tests, the consignments met PFA standards. The STC is not responsible for testing done by the FCI after the wheat had landed and received by them. We deal only with pre-cleared cargo,” he said.
The FCI, has, however, threatened to withhold payments. In an October 10 letter to STC Chairman Arvind Pandalai, FCI General Manager N P S Kohli wrote, “The results reveal that the imported wheat stock unloaded from the ships are beyond contractual limits. The enclosed test results show that the surveyors appointed by the STC at the load port are not doing their job well. There is an urgent need to not only change them but also take appropriate legal action against them. It should also be explored whether recoveries can be made from the suppliers based on these test results conducted by FCI’s laboratory.”
Kohli went on to add: “Since the stock has to be given to the public/consumer through PDS as well as under different schemes directly or indirectly to the consumer, this may not give a healthy picture among the general picture at large…in such circumstances, FCI shall be within its rights to recover losses suffered on account of receipt of such inferior quality stocks due to failure of effective monitoring by STC.”
The minutes of the November 7 meeting reveal STC and FCI playing a blame game on the wheat consignment. This was the view taken by STC’s Chief General Manager S Sarkar at the meeting: “There is no sanctity of analysis carried out by FCI unilaterally at their level. The payment has to be released as per Office Memorandum issued by the Ministry where there is no such provision of further analysis. Since there is a contract between foreign suppliers, the Office Memorandum has to be strictly followed instead of creating confusion by repeated analysis at different levels.”
The FCI’s case was taken up by Executive Director Rakesh Garg and, according to records, he said: “The parameters of inspection by the Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) and Port Health Organisation (PHO) were lower than the specifications as mentioned with the tenders floated by STC and as such don’t confirm that the stocks received are as per the tender specifications…while executing agreements, arrangement with the insurance companies, STC should ensure that the insurance company is made liable for losses on account of quality.”
When contacted, Food Secretary Nanda Kumar told The Sunday Express that it was “appearance,” not the quality of the imported wheat which was under discussion.
It is understood that files on the 2007-08 import of wheat are now being examined by the CVC. This was confirmed by Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha: “We have all the required papers on the case and have asked the Food Ministry for details of the import. After their reply, we have marked certain more queries and questions to them. If the quality of the imported wheat is in question now, that aspect will also be looked into.”
