Hansi wheat scam loss pegged at Rs11.5 cr

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, August 4

The wheat scam in the Food and Supplies Department, which was exposed in the Hansi town about a year ago, has cost the state exchequer about Rs 11.5 crore. A report compiled by the departmental committee, which assessed the total loss and was submitted to the head office in Chandigarh today, has revealed this.

Sources said the Food and Supplies Department would recover the amount from three inspectors, who are facing criminal charges in the case.

The department would file a chargesheet against the accused inspectors, Mahender Singh, Vipin Kumar and Jaswant Singh, and the process of recovery would be started on the basis of the inquiry report, said Jaipal Singh, deputy director, Food and Supplies, Chandigarh.

The scam was exposed in June last year when a team from Chandigarh raided the godowns in Hansi and found huge stock of wheat missing. Initially, the losses were pegged at around Rs 3.5 crore. The department, however, formed a committee to assess the exact losses. Officials said it took over a year to assess the losses due to the lengthy work and rabi procurement season.

The report said missing and damaged wheat stock in the godowns was worth Rs 9.85 crore while another Rs 1.65 crore were lost on account of missing and damaged stock articles. About 30,676 quintals of wheat worth Rs 6.75 crore was found missing from the godowns where the stock of 2012-13 rabi season was stored in Hansi. Moreover, another 22,856 quintals of wheat was found rotten in the stock, which was disposed off at a much lower price, causing a loss of about Rs 3.10 crore.

Stock articles worth about Rs 1.65 crore were also found missing from the godowns. The missing articles included wooden crates (Rs 46 lakh), gunny bales (Rs 67 lakh), empty gunny bags (Rs 5.31 lakh), multi-layer cross laminated covers (Rs 34 lakh), polythene covers (Rs 1.16 lakh) and celphos tablets (Rs 1.36 lakh).

The departmental team, led by deputy director NK Mittal, raided the Hansi godown after complaints of black marketing of wheat. The probe indicated that wheat was being diverted in the black market for many months and other articles too were being taken away.