CBI surprise checks FCI depots in South Assam

CBI teams have conducted surprise inspections at depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in Cachar districts Ramnagar and Karimganj districts Badarpurghat, both locations in South Assam, following complaints of misappropriation of food grains and manipulation of records by the depots' officials.  

The first surprise check was conducted at the FCI depot, Ramnagar, at around 10.15 a.m. on March 19.

CBI officials who were present included Niraj Kumar Singh, inspector of police, CBI, ACB, Shillong; Mukesh Kumar, inspector of police, CBI, ACB, Shillong; Shiv Kumar Singh, sub-inspector of police, CBI, ACB, Shillong; and F.A. Sangma, PC, CBI, ACB, Shillong. 

CBI sources say their inspection teams during the surprise check found that no staff was present in the entire depot campus on that day. 

Besides, the officials found many other surprising facts including unavailability of any register at the depot's entry gate, non-operational condition of most of the CCTV cameras in the sheds, absence of stack cards and palla bags in stacks of the depot's sheds, absence of depot online system at the depot's weighbridge and unavailability of updated master ledger, stack ledger and central master ledger at the depot.

The team which carried out the surprise check at FCI depot, Badarpurghat included Pradeep Das, CBI, ACB, Shillong; Anil Kumar Rai, CBI, ACB, Shillong; and Shantanu Paul, manager (EM), FCI (RO), Shillong. 

These officials reached the depot at around 12.15 p.m. on March 19 and conducted the inspection. Sanatomba Singh told the team that the FSD Badarpurghat comprises two sheds (shed 1 and shed 2) for storage of food grains (rice and wheat).

After the inspection, it was found that there was a shortage of 948 bags of rice in shed-1, while in shed-2 there was a shortage of 523 bags of rice. The number of wheat bags was found to be 1,127 whereas the number as per the records should have been 1,172.

It was not known what action was taken in connection with the irregularities found in the depots, when this report was filed.

The FCI depots in Cachar and Karimganj districts of Assam, which services Assam's Barak Valley and the states of Mizoram and Tripura,  has always been in spotlight for corruption because of their huge handling volumes which tempts corrupt officials to sell large food grain quantities in black market and then write them off as "transit loss.' 

The first major expose of this scam surfaced in 1992 and some of the kingpins were linked to former powerful Congress minister Santosh Mohan Deb. The present racket is also said to enjoy political patronage of ruling BJP politicians in Barak Valley.

The Barak Democratic Front (BDF), a political party formed in Barak Valley, had recently written a letter to the SP, CBI, ACB (Zonal office), Shillong, with allegations of corruption and malpractices at the FCI Divisional Office in Silchar. 

The BDF had demanded a CBI investigation into the matter. Its convenor Pradip Datta Ray claimed that large-scale corruption is taking place in the FCI divisional office in Silchar.

Datta Ray told IANS that the matter (irregularities found in the FCI depots at Ramnagar and Badarpurghat should be dealt with seriously by the authorities and stern action taken against all those involved in the corrupt practices.