Bhopal: Probe finds procurement, selling agencies responsible for missing 18000 quintals of onion
Bhopal collector Sudam Khade confirmed that both agencies were found responsible for the lapse.
An enquiry into the freshly procured missing onions of Bhopal has held the procurement agency --MARKFED--and the selling agency--civil supplies corporation-- responsible for not accounting for 18000 quintal of onion.
Bhopal collector Sudam Khade had appointed an enquiry committee headed by Additional District Magistrate GP Mali after reports of the missing onions first came in.
While talking to India Today, Bhopal collector Sudam Khade confirmed that both agencies were found responsible for the lapse. "Both the procurement and selling agencies were found responsible and now we are sending the report to the state government to take the required action against the erring officials of the two agencies," he said.
India Today on August 4 had reported how onions worth over Rs 20 crore had gone missing from government records. This included the 18000 quintals of onions that had gone missing from Bhopal.
From the remaining part of Madhya Pradesh, around 25000 metric tonnes of onions procured by the government at Rs 8 per kg had gone missing from government records. The government had announced a Minimum Support Price of Rs 8 per kg for onions after 6 agitating farmers demanding adequate price for their produce were killed in police firing in Mandsaur on June 5.
The procuring agency MARKFED procured 8.76 lakh metric tonnes from farmers while the selling agency, the Civil Supplies Corporation got 8.51 lakh metric tonnes.
While in Bhopal the district collector ordered an enquiry, at the state level the government shied away from ordering any enquiry on the pretext that the Economic Offences Wing of the state government was already investigating a related case.
The MP government's onion procurement policy has led to large scale wastage as thousands of tonnes of freshly procured onions had to be destroyed as they were allowed to waste in the open during the rains.
The government had limited storage capacity but still went ahead with procuring 8.76 lakh metric tonnes as a politically weak Shivraj Singh Chouhan tried to placate the agitating farmers.
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