Rajasthan: 83,679 Govt Employees Found Taking Free Wheat Under NFSA, ₹82 Crore Recovered So Far

By Manish Godha

 Government employees, who get salaries of thousands of rupees every month, have not even spared the ration of the poor in Rajasthan. A total of 83679 government servants were found consuming the free wheat being given under the National Food Security Scheme. However, the government is now recovering the price of wheat at the market rate from the identified government servants.

This irregularity in the implementation of the NFSA was first noticed about two years ago during a random checking of the scheme. The Food and Civil Supplies department then conducted a special probe in all the districts of the state and was surprised to found that such malpractice was going on in almost all the districts.

When the National Food Security Scheme was implemented, wheat and rice were being provided at Rs 2 per kg to about one crore families of the state covered under this scheme. After the outbreak of COVID, the ration was made free for the beneficiaries under the scheme.

According to the data until April 30th this year, a total of 83 thousand 679 government employees of the state took wheat of the poor. Of these, highest 7702 employees were from Dausa district while the least 314 employees were from the Jaipur.

After the irregularities came to light, the government started recovery from the identified employees @ Rs 27.50 per kg. Food Minister Sumit Godara said that until now Rs 82 crore 66 lakh 65 thousand 624 has been recovered from 67 thousand 297 employees.

The process of recovery from the remaining employees is still going on, and concrete arrangements have been made to ensure that such malpractice does not happen again.

This article has been republished from The Free Press Journal.