Chandigarh: It is not just a shortage of storage space that is the problem. In Punjab, investigations by CNN-IBN reveal that space to store seven lakh tonnes of wheat grain has already been created by private godown owners and another five lakh tonnes space would be created in the next three months.
However, the Punjab government is not using the new godowns and has left its grain out in the open to rot. CNN-IBN has also found that rotten grain is in fact being sold at half the procurement price to liquor distilleries.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's wife Harsimrat Kaur had told Parliament that Punjab had no grain storage space whereas new godowns are going unused in Punjab.
One Rajinder Singh built a storage facility at a cost of Rs 3 crore after getting a tender from the Punjab government in 2011. He informed them in March that the facility was ready, but the government is still procuring grain and allowing it to rot in the open. An inspection team citing "technical" issues is yet to give clearance to Rajinder's godowns....
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10:07 PM, May 09, 2012
Chandigarh: In a shocker from Punjab and Haryana, official indifference has led to more grain troubles. Despite a bumper harvests in both states, tonnes of wheat are rotting in the open. In Chandigarh, the local traders were left with nothing after majority of the wheat was procured by six government procuring agencies. The Food Corporation has already warned the Centre to take corrective measures to check the rotting. Meanwhile, adding...
10:24 AM, May 04, 2012
