Suspicion of misuse of ration meant for industrial use

Jabalpur. A very serious and big case of misappropriation of government rice allotted for ethanol production has come to light in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. After the revelation of this huge mess, both the district administration and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have come into full action mode and the scope of investigation has been significantly expanded. Balaghat Collector Mrinal Meena, taking a strong stand in this matter, has written an official letter to the Regional General Manager of FCI Bhopal, in which he has given clear instructions to conduct a detailed and impartial investigation into the entire matter. Along with this, considering the seriousness of this matter, the state government has also made some important changes in its ethanol policy, so that such irregularities can be prevented in future. In the letter written by Collector Mrinal Meena, it has been clearly stated that under the ethanol policy, physical verification should be done on a large scale not only of the suspicious mills or plants, but also of the rice released from all other related warehouses of FCI. The administration wants to ensure that there is no discrepancy between the quantity of rice recorded in government records and the stock actually available in the warehouses. Since this letter came out, there has been a stir among the rice millers and middlemen who were involved in this whole game. After this big revelation, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has also intensified the internal investigation at its level. Higher officials of FCI have started scrutiny of all the records and documents of rice allotted to ethanol plants during the last two years. According to information received from sources, the department, taking immediate action, has completely banned all business transactions and allocation of rice with the ethanol plant of AVJ Agrico Pvt. Ltd. located at Baregaon in Chhindwara and Sancheti Rice Mill of Varasivani. Until the investigation report comes out, no government ration will be issued to these two firms. The main focus of the investigation teams is on whether the cheap government rice which was released from FCI warehouses in the name of industrial use and ethanol production was actually transported to the plant or black money was earned by selling it in the open market at higher prices. In the initial investigation, it is suspected that the ration trucks were made missing during transportation or the rice was diverted by manipulating the papers. Meanwhile, law and order and police administration are also preparing to take strict action in this matter. Sources associated with the police department say that so far many important clues and suspicious documents have been found in the investigation, on the basis of which the police department is preparing a plan to file a named FIR against 13 main suspects related to this entire scam. These suspects are suspected to include some rice millers, transporters and some departmental employees, without whose connivance the rigging on such a large scale would not have been possible. The state government is also keeping a close watch on this entire incident and by changing the ethanol policy, it has given the message that corruption will not be tolerated at any cost. At present, joint teams of Balaghat administration and FCI are busy in scrutinizing the records and it is expected that in the coming days the heat of investigation may reach some big white collar and influential officials also. The district administration says that as soon as the physical verification and financial audit reports come out, strictest punitive action will be ensured against the culprits.

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