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Opposition alleges rice scam, walks out of LS
Published on Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 15:36, Updated on Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 17:40 in 
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New Delhi: Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Thursday alleged a “scam” in the export of non-Basmati rice to some African countries and demanded a probe by Joint Parliamentary Committee or CBI, which the Government rejected but promised an internal inquiry.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said each and every transaction that has been implemented will be "examined", "responsibility will be fixed" and "nobody will be spared if any infringement of rules is found".
The entire Opposition, which was insisting on JPC or CBI probe into the "scam", expressed dissatisfaction with the Government's response and staged a walkout.
"We are not sensationalising. But we ask the Government not to trivialise the matter. We are not satisfied with the response and are staging a walkout," Leader of Opposition LK Advani said after Sharma rejected their demands saying the Government should be given an opportunity to inquire on its own.
The matter was raised by BJD member Arjun Charan Sethi under Calling Attention Motion, who said that non-Basmati rice was exported to African countries despite a ban. He alleged a scam in it.
Sethi was joined by JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia, BJD leader B Mahtab, BJP leader Gopinath Munde and SP leader Shailendra Kumar, who wanted JPC or CBI probe. Sharma said there was no violation of the ban on exports as it was relaxed "consciously" by an Empowered Group of Ministers in March 2009 because of "diplomatic considerations" after requests from the African countries, received at the level of Head of State or Government.
He said the exports, request for which was received in 2007, were not part of any humanitarian assistance or grant and hence rice was not procured by the Government but by private companies identified by the recipient countries.
"I reaffirm that the transaction was purely commercial. It was not in violation of rules of ban," he said while giving clarifications on the matter over which the Opposition and ruling members clashed repeatedly.
Rubbishing media reports that the exports were worth Rs 2500 crore, the Commerce Minister said the value of total procurement was about Rs 170 crore.
He said out of 13.5 lakh metric tonnes of rice exports sanctioned by the EGOM, only 1.22 lakh metric tonnes were exported, which constitutes 9 per cent.
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