Shyam Rajak

Patna, Feb. 23: Food and civil supplies minister Shyam Rajak today was at the receiving end of the wrath of ruling party MLAs accusing him of rampant foodgrain “seepage” meant for below poverty line (BPL) families.

The minister found himself in a tight spot with charges of protecting corrupt officials of his department being hurled at him.

Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary announced that the call attention committee of the Assembly would probe the matter and submit a report during the current session.

BJP MLA Vikram Kuer, during the question hour, raised the issue related to seizure of eight trucks of foodgrain in Chhapra.

He added that the foodgrain was lifted from the warehouse of State Food Corporation and was being taken for black marketeering in Hajpur and Patna.

The minister, while admitting the seizure, said a police case has been lodged and the licence of the transporter to lift foodgrain has been cancelled. He, however, turned down the demand for action against the food corporation officials.

“It was because of the initiative of food corporation officials the foodgrain was seized,” Rajak said.

This enraged Kuer, who alleged that the SFC officials were hand-in-glove with hoarders in the black market. “The managers of the warehouses pay the dealers and then sell the foodgrain to hoarders and black marketeers,” Kuer said, adding that everyday, truck loads of foodgrain meant for the BPL families were being sold in the black market. “This problem is not confined to Siwan. It is the same story across the state,” Kuer said, demanding a House panel to probe the functioning of the SFC warehouse in Siwan from 2009.

Kuer was joined by other MLAs, particularly from the BJP. A large number of MLAs from both the ruling and the Opposition demanded a probe.

The Speaker initially offered to get the matter probed by the regional commissioner, Saran. However, this was turned down by the MLAs. Ultimately, the Speaker offered to get the matter probed by the call attention committee of the Assembly.

Other ministers, too, faced a tough time from the ruling party MLAs. Nitin Navin of the BJP raised the issue of delay in opening 38 new pump houses in Patna for providing clean drinking water.

To this, urban development minister Prem Kumar said the Patna Municipal Corporation was assigned the task but it was unable to implement it. “Now the task has been assigned to Bihar Jal Parishad and the tender process is on,” he said.

Navin expressed amazement over the delay in the implementation and demanded that the minister should get the work done in the next financial year.

Banking assurance

Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi today told the state legislative council that banking facility would soon be made available in 5,934 villages with population of more than 2,000 and bank representatives would be appointed in 9,213 villages by March.

Replying to a question of BJP MLA Baidyanath Prasad, Modi, who holds charge of finance department gave this information to the members in the Upper House.