Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Memo to Chief Minister Odisha on Kerosene Scam

To
Shri Naveen Patnaik                                                                                                       Date- 19.5.20
Chief Minister
Govt. of Odisha
Bhubaneswar

Sub- Seeking inquiry  into  huge  irregularities  and black-marketing  of Kerosene  and Dal  in different districts and  Direction   for proper and transparent procedure to be followed in respect of distribution of Rice, Dal and Kerosene by Panchayat and dealers in the state.   

Respected Sir

 We, the RTI Activists  and Members  of  Odisha Soochana Adhikar Abhijan  draw  your  kind attention  on the  following  issues  relating  to   corruption , hoarding  and black-marketing  of  PDS  items  distributed  under  NFSA  and Pradhan Mantri  Garibi Kalyan  Anna Yojana  ( PMGKAY)  among the beneficiaries  across the  state.

1.       That, in view of COVID-19  lockdown  in the  country,  the  Central Government  announced  a series of  Corona packages for the  poor  under  Pradhan Mantri Garibi Kalyan Yojana . One of the   most important Packages for  the millions of the  poor people  is  provision of   5 kg  free rice  per  head  per month  for  three months , one kg  Dal  per  family  per  month for  three months ( April to June) for all NFSA  beneficiaries free of cost,  Rs. 1000.00  for all Old Age, Widow and Disable pension holders.  On 30th March, 20, the  Central Government  issued  letter  to all  State  Govt. to lift allocated  quantity  of Rice  and Dal  for  distribution  among the beneficiaries free of cost without delay. On 11.4.20, the Secretary, Department of Food Supply and  Consumer Welfare, Govt. of Odisha issued   letter  to all the Collectors directing  to immediately  lift  rice  from FCI godown and Dal  from NAFED Godown  for  distribution of 3 months  ration to all 92 lakh NFSA card  holders ( 3.26 crore people  ) and complete  distribution by 28th of May.

2.       But  it is very   disheartening  to note  here that  though more than one month has passed,  Dal  has not  yet  been  distributed in thousands of  Panchayats  in the  state. It is reported that  in many  places,   only one kg  of Dal  is  provided  to the beneficiaries. It  is also  learnt from different sources   that  there  is huge  hoarding  of Dal  by the  dealers / retailors  in the  state.

3.       Similarly, the  three months free  rice  provided   by Central Govt.  under Pradhan Mantri Garibi Kalyan Yojana  has not  yet been  supplied  in many  Gram Panchayat, though  rice  has been  lifted  from  FCI Godown.  It  is assumed  that  the  Govt. officers  and  Transport Agents  might  have  black-marketed  this  rice  without  distributing  to the Ration Card  holders.

4.       Similarly,  the  State  Government  has issued  instruction  for  distribution of  6 lites  of kerosene  for  3 months  to all  Ration card  holders  at the rate of Rs. 14.72   per  litres. But  the  Dealers  are  seen  distributing  5 litres  of kerosene  against  allocation of 6 litres  and collecting  exorbitant  price ranging  from Rs. 30.00   to Rs. 54.00 per litres  from the poor Ration Card  holders in different districts.   This  is  no doubt a big  loot  of the poor  people  even  during  disaster  period.  It  is reported  that  the   District  Civil Supply  Officers, Marketing Inspectors, Wholesalers  and dealers  are  hand in glove  to loot  the  people  by  illegally  demanding  such  huge price. It is estimated a loot of Rs. 1000 crore  from the poor ration card holders by the  dealers and Govt. officials.  Despite  several  complaints   being filed  to district Collectors and FIRs lodged  in different police stations  by  the RTI Activists and beneficiaries, no action has been  taken  against  the dealers and the officials  involved  in this scam.

5.       So, keeping in view magnitude  of this  scam, we   make  the  following  demands  for  effective  and  transparent  distribution of all PDS  items  among  the  people  in the  state.

·               Constitute  an High-level inquiry  into allegation of  exorbitant  price  of kerosene  demanded  by the  retailors   across the  state  and take   stringent  action against them  and other  officials involved  in this  scam.
·               Constitute  an High-level inquiry  into allegation of  non-distribution of  Dal  to the beneficiaries  in thousands  of Gram Panchauyats.
·               Direct  all  District  Civil supply  officers  to return the  money  to the  beneficiaries from whom   excess  price  of  kerosene  against  fixed  price  was collected.
·               Direct  to exhibit ( public display)   in front  of Retailors’ shop  the  price  of PDS items, stock  Register, Distribution Register, Tally Register  and grievance Register  for  maintaining transparency  ( part of 5T Sarkar )  in  distribution of items to the beneficiaries.
·               Ensure  a robust system of  grievance redressal mechanism  for addressing grievance  of the people  immediately.

Thanking you
Yours sincerely
Pradip Pradhan
State Convener
M-9937843482
Sanjukta Panigrahi, Member, M-9337903294
Srikant Pakal, Member, M- 9830440742
Sarbeswar Behura, Member, M-94374 
Jitendra Sahu, Member , M- 9861431109

Annextures- A. news Clippings
B. FIRs  filed  in Police stations by RTI Activists and beneficiaries

Copy to
A.      Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha

No comments:

Post a Comment