Minister raids FCI godown, MP likely to face sack shortage

A minister’s zeal to crackdown on corruption could well end up in shortage of jute bags and leave large stocks of wheat...

A minister’s zeal to crackdown on corruption could well end up in shortage of jute bags and leave large stocks of wheat to rot under the open sky in markets across Madhya Pradesh.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Akhand Pratap Singh carried out a raid at a warehouse on Friday and found jute bags that did not meet the specifications of size and weight.

He checked four samples and did not allow the remaining 19,49,996 bags to be moved from the transit godown of the Central Warehouse Corporation in Nishatpura where 19,50,000 bags had arrived from Kolkata on Thursday night.

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Armed with a weighing scale and a measuring tape, the minister himself inspected the bags, sealed them and asked several bystanders, including government officials, to sign as witness.

“I won’t let anyone go unpunished no matter who he is,” Singh told The Indian Express, before leaving for Itarsi, about 90 km from here, to conduct another raid. Unfortunately for him, the godown belonged to the Food Corporation of India, a Central Government undertaking. Soon after he backtracked and returned to Bhopal to meet party president Rajnath Singh. The minister even threatened to file an FIR but had to stay put since he would have to talk to the Central Government officials before he could proceed. The supply department officials are expected to arrive on Saturday.

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