Madhya Pradesh: Huge Quantity Of Wheat Gets Spoilt In Balaghat Godowns

A huge quantity of wheat rotted at different places in the district, because it was kept in the open instead of warehouses, sources said.

It happened because of negligence of the owners of the godowns and the employees of the Warehousing Corporation.

The wheat was spoilt due to inclement weather conditions and pests.

Wheat worth Rs 8 crore was kept in three godowns at Waraseoni.

After inspecting the wheat, the district food officer submitted a letter to the collector, stating that the food grain kept in the open was rotting and afflicted with pests.

During the physical verification, 15,000 bags of wheat were kept in Kalpataru godown at MehendiwadaKhapa, but it turned into powder because of pests.

After inspecting the wheat, the food officer issued a directive, putting a ban on supply of wheat till further orders.

Nevertheless, nobody paid any heed to the wheat stored during 2020-21, and, after two years, the officials found it to have been destroyed by pests.

Regional manager of Warehousing Logistic and Corporation had directed the officials to upgrade the wheat.

But when the owner of the godown refused to upgrade, a five-member team was set up to upgrade the grain.

The team has advised the godown owner to keep the bags containing rotten wheat outside.

The team that was supposed to upgrade the wheat consisted of district manager of Warehousing Corporation RK Patle, branch manager of Waraseoni Naveen Bisen, Ramkumar Nagbhire of Civil Supplies Corporation and Kailash Kawde.

Nevertheless, the committee does not have any technical experts.

An order was issued banning the supply of wheat. But now efforts are being made to supply it among people through PDS after its upgrading.

The upgraded wheat was packed in 500 bags and transported by two trucks for distribution among consumers.

There are instructions from the Central Government that rotten wheat should be upgraded for distribution among consumers.

Nevertheless, the committee does not have any technical members, but efforts are on to distribute it among consumers.

The wheat kept in Kalpataru godown is worth Rs 2 lakh.

This article has been republished from The Free Press Journal.