The Regional Food Controllers office in the state is responsible for procuring the food-grain, while the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) is in charge of its distribution. An embezzlement by a section of officers from the controllers office made news in March 2004, after 70 truckloads of rice meant for distribution was lifted from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and when FCI demanded its payment, a project director refused to verify the stock register, gradually it was revealed that they had been selling the grains in the black market and a probe was ordered. As per initial estimates at the time, foodgrain worth Rs 15,000 crore could have been diverted from the Antyodaya Yojana (food-for-work scheme) over the last five years. By December 2004, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had suspended a district magistrate of Lakhimpur Kheri and several officials of the food department and political parties including the CPI, Congress and BJP were increasing pressure on the government to order a CBI probe. First FIRs in the case were filed in January 2005, when the state government acknowledged the scam to be worth Rs. 45,000 crore under the Central government sponsored Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Apart 65 officials named in the FIR, further over 300 persons were suggested to involved in the preliminary reports. Apart from that a district magistrate, six ADMs and a few district food and supplies officials were suspended. In April 2007, Union Minister, Kapil Sibal demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the illegal sale by private traders who procured the grains from the warehouses of Food Corporation of India, diverting food grains allotted to the state for the poor. Alleging that the scam took place from August to November 2004, when Rajpal Tyagi was leading the Rural Development ministry. At first the scam was investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Uttar Pradesh Police (UPP), followed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Mulayam Singh government, after its investigations in three districts, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri and Gonda, SIT lodged over 5,000 FIRs. When Mayawati became Chief Minister, SIT investigations had revealed the scam to be larger in scale and multi-dimensional, covering many welfare schemes like Antyodaya, Sampurana Grameen Swarojgar Yojna during 2002-2005, thus a CBI inquiry on ordered December 1, 2007; the scam was now worth Rs. 35,000 crore. Two years later in early December 2009, CBI lodged 9 cases, identifying nearly 150 government officials, including some PCS officer as accused; in all nine people were arrested, with one of them being the chief finance and accounts officer of the District Rural Development Authority (DRDA) in Ballia and his junior. The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, responding to a PIL, on December 23, 2009, directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a status report on all the nine food grain scams in the state from 2000 till January 8, 2010 being investigated by the CBI. On December 3, 2010, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court, responding to public interest litigation (PIL) filed by advocate Vishwanath Chaturvedi, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct and complete an inquiry within six months, into the foodgrain scam in Gonda, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ballia, Lakhimpur and Sitapur districts. It also stated, that It shall not be necessary for the CBI or state agencies to obtain sanction under the statutory provision with regard to present controversy where from initial stage, prima facie intentionally, deliberately and in a planned manner, the foodgrains were lifted from godowns for sale either in the open market or to smuggle outside UP or to other countries, The bench also asked the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government, to consider appropriate amendments in the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Though period under investigation is till 2007, the court also directed that it should be open to the CBI and state agencies to proceed with investigation with regard to the scam not only up to 2007 but even beyond in case some link evidence/material is found with regard to continuance of diversion of foodgrain under various schemes of the state and Central governments.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 19:00:04 +0000
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