Wheat churning crores for a handful of people
Nexus runs deep, Govt rate sidestepped, The inside of a flour mill
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 12 2012: With rice, sugar and kerosene being the most sought after items supposed to be made available to the common people under the public distribution system (PDS) it is strongly believed that some individuals have been literally churning out crores of rupees out of wheat, the least preferred PDS item in Manipur.

While rice, sugar and kerosene are the common essential commodities that majority of the populace depend on, wheat continues to be a profit-making commodity under the domain of a handful of people such as Government officials, businessmen and flour-mill owners.

Nevertheless, in times of need, the common people purchase flour, which is made from wheat, from the markets at prices ranging from Rs 20 to Rs 23 per kilogram.

During a random survey conducted by The Sangai Express on how flour available in the markets commands such a high price despite wheat being a PDS item, it came to light that Government officials in cahoots with influential individuals trade off wheat to flour-mill owners and wholesale traders at Khwairamband Keithel (market) .

The inside of a flour mill

A source in the State's Consumer Affairs, food and Public Distribution Department said Manipur's monthly quota of wheat is 1106 metric tonnes out of which 1000 metric tonne is supposed to be provided to families under the APL category with the remaining allocation of 106 meant for BPL families.

As per price fixed by the Central Government wheat to BPL family should be provided at Rs 415 per quintal while APL families may acquire the same item and quantity at Rs 610 .

It is also said that an amount of Rs 65,39,900 is spent by the State exchequer to procure Manipur's monthly quota of 1106 metric tonnes.

While Area Manager of Food Corporation of India, Imphal division confirmed the State's monthly share as 1106 metric tonnes, the CAF&PD source informed that the procured wheat quantity is supplied to the Mantripukhri-based Shri Manipur Roller Flour Mill and Manipur Roller Flour Mill for crushing the PDS item into flour and supposed to be provided to APL and BPL families through the fair price shops at the rate fixed by the Government.

While the said Mills are entrusted with the task of only churning out flour from the raw wheat, the food item should be made available to the BPL and APL families at Rs 5.98 and Rs 8.35 per kg respectively.

The rate fixed by the Government is finalised after deduction of relevant expenditures such as administrative charge, agents/dealers' commission, transportation charge, retailers' margin and milling charge in the rate of Rs 30 per quintal, pointed out the source.

Contrary to prescribed norms, the prepared flour from the two Mills reaches directly to the local market from where wholesalers fix the price.

The source also listed Satyam Trading, Pawanji Dogra, Jawahar Ji, Deepak Store, RK Singh, Pawan Trading, Gathwal Brothers, Om Trading, Imphal Trading, Jiten Singh, Reeshikumar Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Bhawar Lal Ji, Manna Mangalal & Dharamchand, Gulapi Chhabra, Modern Traders, Vijaykumar-Sanjay Kumar as some individuals/agents involved in whole-sale trading of flour.

It is further informed that these wholesalers procure a 45-kg Ata bag at Rs 720 and Rs 770 for a Maida bag of the same weight which are then traded off to the retailers with a profit of Rs 30 and Rs 20 respectively.

From the retailers a common consumer fetches Ata at the rate of Rs 20 per kilogram while it is Rs 22 for maida of the same quantity ultimately constraining the common people to pay exponentially than the rate fixed by the Government.