Imphal, May 18 2009: Although there is record in the Government about distribution of kerosene to the people of four blocks in Manipur selected under a pilot project of the Centrally sponsored Jana Kerosene Pari Yojana, the ground reality tells a different tale with none of the selected beneficiaries having received anything.

The pilot project of the Jana Kerosene Pari Yojana was launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India on July 5, 2005 with the main objective of strengthening the existing Public Distribution System all over the country with special focus on ensuring direct distribution of Kerosene to the people.

Along with selection of four blocks of Manipur, the pilot project was officially launched in Sawombung of Imphal East, Haorang Sabal of Imphal West, Moirang of Bishnupur and Saikot of Churachandpur district on October 2, 2005 coinciding with the birth anniversary of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi which is being celebrated as National Cleanliness Day.

However, an independent investigation conducted by The Sangai Express into the implementation of the project has revealed that the people of these four blocks have not received any Kerosene although there are records of its distribution in the files of the Government.

Interestingly, the project envisages to plug any possible leakage or diversion in the process of ensuring direct distribution of 4 litres of Kerosene each to all the ration card holders of the selected blocks.

The project is also being planned to be extended to other blocks subsequently.

When the investigation team of The Sangai Express randomly interacted with a cross section of the purported beneficiaries of the project in the four blocks, it came to light that beneficiaries in Moirang have not even heard about the project.

They further informed that Kerosene is not provided every month and if at all they receive any, it is just 1 litre.

That also after 2 to 3 months.

As gullible as they are, the beneficiaries also have no idea about the failure of receiving their monthly quota of Kerosene and always believed when their agents told them that no Kerosene quota had been received for any particular month.

The investigation also led to the detection of a Government order identifying certain oil pumps in the four districts but located near the selected blocks from where the agents should get their quota of the Kerosene For public knowledge, it may be mentioned here that for easy identification on the arrival of the Kerosene quota under the project, the containers are of yellow colour quite different from others.

When contacted as part of the investigation, officials of the Food and Public Distribution, Department of Consumers Affairs, however, disclosed that there are records on paper not only on the distribution of Kerosene to the selected beneficiaries of the four blocks but have also received utilisation certificates from the district administrations concerned.

The monthly Kerosene quota being allocated in the four blocks are respectively 53.816 KL in Sawombung block which has a total number of 18,454 ration card holders, 77.232 KL in Haorang Sabal which has a total number of 19,308 ration card holders, 42.868 Kl in Moirang Block for its 10,717 ration card holders and 9.048 KL in Saikot which has a total number of 2,262 ration card holders.

The four year old project has been launched by the Centre with great hope.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has written to the State Government for inclusion of Panchayati Raj Institutions in monitoring implementation of the project.

On the other hand, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India which is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has communicated to the Chief Secretary of the State for taking up necessary measures to effect appoint ment ofFood Safety Commissioner, Designated Officer (Licensing Officer), Food Safety Officers, Food Analyst, establishment of special courts and public prosecutors in connection with implementation of provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 in Manipur as well.

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