Wheat worth Rs 600 cr allowed to rot: CAG

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 27

The Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation Limited (PAFCL) and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) allowed wheat worth Rs 607 crore to rot in four years owing to inadequate storage arrangements. This foodgrain was sufficient to feed all 1.36 crore beneficiaries under the atta-dal scheme for three months.

The fact came to light in a report prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General tabled in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Thursday.

“Inadequate storage arrangements, improper storage conditions, poor preservation of stock, storage of fresh wheat with infested lot resulted in a loss of Rs 607.57 crore from 2014-15 to 2017-18,” says the report. “Further, the delay in disposal of damaged wheat resulted in incurring an expenditure of Rs 8.57 crore on rent and security of storage spaces where damaged wheat was kept.” The PAFCL and PSWC procure wheat on behalf of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) for central pool of the Government of India. The wheat that gets damaged in storage is disposed of by the two agencies through e-tendering after categorisation and fixing of reserve price. Declaring infested wheat as damaged and disposal thereof is an ongoing process.

During 2014-15 to 2017-18, 2.83 lakh MTs of wheat pertaining to previous crop years was declared damaged. Interestingly, the state government distributes 8.70 lakh MT of wheat annually under the atta-dal scheme.

This is not the first time that the issue of damaged wheat has been flagged by CAG. The audit report for 2010-11 had observed improper storage of wheat, damage of wheat stock valuing Rs 64.91 crore due to negligence.