Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan has urged the government to prosecute Supplyco officials in Kottarakara who allegedly tried to palm off spoiled rice crawling with worms to the public by rinsing the food grains with a lethal pesticide to remove the vermin.
He said local residents had apprehended Supplyco officials red-handed. The officials had attempted to cover up the loss they had caused to the public exchequer through poor warehousing by resorting to practices that endangered public health.
Mr. Satheesan highlighted the incident in a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
He urged Mr. Vijayan to order a police inquiry. Ideally, the government should book the errant officials for culpable homicide, not amounting to murder. The government should audit warehousing practices and ensure they confirm to global standards. He said the incident detected in Kottarakara was just the tip of the iceberg.
He said the toxic food grains reached people through the PDS. The warehouse officials routinely used aluminium phosphate to rid grain silos of pests.
‘Politically motivated’
Food and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil termed the controversy as politically motivated.
He told The Hindu that warehouse staff routinely used Aluminium Phosphide tablets for fumigation. He said the staff ensured the grain sacks were hermetically sealed. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had approved the method. A group of people had created a ruckus when the process was on in the warehouse in Kottarakara.
Nevertheless, the government has ordered an inquiry to detect the quantum of damaged food grains and fix responsibility for lapses in stock preservation at the Supplyco godown in Kottarakara. No official found guilty of mismanagement would be spared, he said.
He added that the Director of Civil Supplies has also been instructed to conduct a thorough inspection of all such facilities across the State to ensure the stocked essentials were stored correctly.
“The allegation that pesticide-laced rice was meant to be supplied through Onam kits and for school students is inhumane and baseless. Foodgrains and other essentials were supplied to ration outlets only through proper quality assurance checks,” Mr. Anil said.
