From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday slammed the government for deliberately faulty procurement of wheat to encourage hoarding and blackmarketing that will push up the prices of the commodity, hitting hard the poor and middle class.
Its Chief Spokesman and General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged a scam of lakhs of crores in the wheat procurement and asked why no raids or action against those hoarding the commodity.
He reeled out the state-wide data of very poor procurement against the targets set by the government: 2.93 lakh tonnes in UP as against the target of 60 lakh tonne, 3,521 tonnes in Bihar as against target of 10 lakh tonnes, and 20,000 tonnes in Uttarakhand as against the target of 22 lakh tonnes. The same is the picture elsewhere and the government shutting eyes to its own targets not met.
Meanwhile, the government has allowed wheat shipments of a small quantity of 469,202 tonnes of wheat since banning most exports last month. However, possibilities are that at least 1.7 million tonnes, which is lying at ports, could be damaged by looming monsoon rains for want of any clarity by the government.
