Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Centre turns down State's proposal

N.J. Nair

For cash instead of grain

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Union Government is understood to have shelved a proposal of the State Government to give cash instead of grain to the beneficiaries of the `food-for-work' scheme.

The State Government had mooted the proposal to allocate cash as an alternative to rice to end the corrupt practices in diverting the allotted grain to the open market and rice mills and also considering the reluctance of those enrolled in the scheme to take rice as wages.

Talks held

After mooting the proposal, senior officials of the Local Administration Department held discussions with the Union Rural Development Ministry to apprise them of the need to change the existing system.

The Ministry was convinced of the corruption in diverting the grain, the steps taken by the Government to end such practices and also the peculiar situation which prevailed in the State.

Officials of the Ministry agreed to accept the proposal and initiated preliminary steps to provide cash, it is learnt.

However, a lobby comprising politicians, trade union leaders, contractors and bureaucrats that had been trading with the grain allotted for various States is understood to have mounted pressure on the Centre to shelve the proposal, sources said.

The Ministry is learnt to have informed the Local Administration Department that the existing system will not be altered.

The alternative arrangement made by the Local Administration Department involving the Civil Supplies Corporation to lift the grain from the Food Corporation of India warehouses and sell it to the families below poverty line (BPL) at Rs.7 per kg through Maveli Stores too did not yield the desired results.

Though the system was worked out to prevent black-marketing of rice, the tardy progress in lifting the stock compelled the department to explore other options. It was also found that huge quantities of rice were remaining pending in the warehouses for want of takers.

Rice marketing

The Local Administration Department is learnt to have worked out a similar system with the Department of Cooperation to market the rice.

Since the Cooperation Department has made an intensive market intervention effort to arrest inflation, an arrangement would be made soon to lift the pending rice and sell it through the outlets of the Consumerfed.

The sale proceeds would be given to the local self-government institutions to pay the wages of those engaged under the `food-for-work' scheme. This is also considered as a panacea to arrest the price spiral and pit an end to corruption.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu