Careless Administration

Careless Administration 

Rains on May 6 (2014) evening have drenched the purchased paddy lying in the procurement centres/societies and the collection centres scattered all over the state of Chhattisgarh  once again. About 2,10,000 metric tonnes of paddy are lying on the open grounds of societies whereas 36 lakh tonnes are lying in the collection centres of Marketing Federation. Owing to the slow lifting of paddy by the millers, the paddy kept on the floors of societies are getting wet again and again due to rains. 

Chhattisgarh state is more than 13 years old. I remember to have allotted parcels of land in several places of the state in 2001-2002 as the Managing Director of CSIDC (Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation) from out of the open plots available in the industrial estates/areas to the State Warehousing Corporation (CGSWC) for construction of godowns on certain terms and conditions at the time of Mr C.S.Khaitan as its M.D. There were little skirmishes initially with regard to the manner of selecting sites for construction in those centres keeping in view the conditions for claiming subsidy from central agency. I am not now aware of the contribution of the CGSWC towards the creation and maintenance of a network of godowns in the state for the usage by MARKFED for storing the procured paddy. It has in fact become an annual feature to procure paddy on a large scale and do milling for central pool. Under these circumstances the state should have taken care and built covered spaces keeping in view its requirement during the procurement period and avoided the paddy getting drenched and damaged year after year. A stable government under the same leadership for more than ten years at a stretch could have devoted a little time towards this burning issue of the state as it has done and earned accolades in other sectors in recent times.

Better late than never. Action awaited as early as possible.

(May 7, 2014)

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