The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Large-scale diversion of wheat denied

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Saturday, Jul 14, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Large-scale diversion of wheat denied

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The Food and Civil Supplies Department has said there has been no large-scale diversion of wheat allocated under the public distribution system (PDS) to the open market in the State.

However, “there have been isolated cases of diversion of wheat, and such cases have been dealt with very stringently as and when they were detected”, it said.

Reacting to a report “PDS wheat finds its way to the black market in State” published in these columns on July 10, P.N. Sreenivasachary, Commissioner for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, said, “The statement that substantial or 70 per cent of PDS wheat is being diverted to the open market in Karnataka is highly exaggerated and has no basis. It is also not true that departmental sources have admitted such large-scale diversion of wheat.”

The official said there had been isolated cases of diversion of wheat, and the department recently suspended three depot mangers and seized 278 quintals of wheat and 50 quintals of rice. A meeting of the office-bearers of the Karnataka Roller Flour Mills Association was convened on June 21 and issues related to possible diversion of PDS wheat were discussed, the Commissioner said.

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