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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj had announced on October 21 that 750 tonne of onion would be imported by air from Iran in four days; six days later, only 66.7 tonne of Iranian onion has landed at the Indira Gandhi International airport.
8220;The deal has proved to be costly in more ways than one. It8217;s costing the Government almost 500 more per tonne than it would have if the onion was brought by ship,8221; says a senior official, 8220;and it hasn8217;t benefited Delhiites.8221;
Moreover, another firm had agreed to import 3,000 tonne by ship for Rs 3.21 crore earlier this month. The deal fell flat.
Compare this with 750 tonne of the airlifted onion which costs Rs 2.25 crore as well as 1,000 tonne for Rs 1.11 crore which a third firm will import by ship in November.
So the arithmetic is: The Government could have got 3,000 tonne for Rs 3.21 crore; It will now get 1,750 tonne for Rs 3.36 crore.
On October 9 8212; three days before Swaraj took over as Chief Minister 8212; the Delhi State CivilSupplies Corporation DSCSC entered into an agreement with MSM Trading Est, Dubai, to import 3,000 tonne of onion at 255 per tonne Rs 10.71 per kg. And the total consignment was to be unloaded in phases at Mumbai port by October 19.
But the deal never materialised. The Government says MSM Trading Est backed out and a show-cause notice has been issued to the latter; the firm claims the Government8217;s Letter of Credit was riddled with technical flaws, there was no question of backing out.
While MSM representatives insist that they are still ready to sign a fresh agreement at Rs 12 per kg, another export-import firm, S V Exports, India, joined hands with the Government in its Great Onion Hunt on October 21.
This firm, referred to as the 8220;private party8221; till date and represented by V Sareen in Delhi, entered into an agreement with DSCSC on October 21: They would airlift 750 tonne of onion from Iran and DSCSC would buy the stock in Delhi at 700 per tonne Rs 30 per kg.
And the Great Onion Hunt 8211;notwithstanding that it will now cost more than what MSM Trading had agreed on 8212; does not stop here. DSCSC has also struck a deal with Tradeline LNC International of Dubai to import 1,000 tonne of onion by ship at 265 per tonne. This consignment is expected to reach Delhi by November 5-6.
Says Senior General Manager DSCSC, K K Jindal, 8220;After onion was placed under the OGL category, import procedures have become easier. It was not so in the case of the deal with MSM, when we had to obtain clearance from the Surface Transport and Agriculture Ministries.8221;
But why didn8217;t the MSM deal work out? The firm8217;s representatives say there was an error in the Letter of Credit issued by the Government on October 12. The LoC shows the firm8217;s name had not been printed in full. A new LoC was sent next day.
This time MSM representative Arun Bhan wrote to DSCSC, requesting an extension in the validity period of the LoC. Because it would take 15-20 days to send the documents.
S L Bansal, DSCSC managing director,turned down the request on in a letter dated October 15 as, 8220;time is the essence of the contract8221;.
Jindal admits that technical difficulties arose because 8220;we are importing Onion for the first time. But MSM should have sent the docements earlier8221;. for an extension.
8220;We would have fulfilled our promise,8221; says Shankar Bhan of MSM. 8220;The government need not have looked for others who are anyway taking the same time at a higher price.8221;
Though a week has passed since October 19 8212; MSM8217;s deadline to unload the consignment 8212; it occurred to DSCSC only yesterday a Sunday to send a show-cause notice to the firm.
In the notice, DSCSC has said that if MSM does not reply in two days, it will levy a five per cent penalty on the contracted amount.
