Ranchi, April 17: A friendly regime in neighbouring Bihar has not stopped the state government from dissociating itself completely from the Bihar State Food & Civil Supplies Corporation (BSFCSC).

The corporation, which has over 700 employees in Jharkhand and a godown in each of the 220 blocks in the state, was entrusted with the task of supplying foodgrain to the public distribution system and also for the midday meal scheme, food-for-work programme and the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana.

The department of food and civil supplies, however, has issued a notification dated April 15, in which it has asked all districts to seal the BSFC godowns and make their own arrangements for lifting foodgrain from the godowns of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and reach them to various PDS shops, schools and project sites.

Secretary, food and civil supplies, Mahavir Prasad, told The Telegraph that the decision had to be taken in view of the large number of complaints being received from different sources. What is more, he added, the Bihar government was deliberately delaying the division of assets and liabilities, which is due since November 2000 when Jharkhand was created. ?The government was forced to decide we cannot afford to allow the drift any longer,? he said.

The managing director of the corporation at Patna, Brajesh Mehrotra, said he was soliciting legal opinion and felt that it was a ?wrong, hasty and ill-advised? move by Jharkhand. The employees of the corporation also complained that Jharkhand had ignored a high court order of October 2005 to maintain the status quo with regard to the business of the corporation.

The food and civil supplies secretary, however, denied having flouted any court order. ?No court order,? declared Prasad, ?prevented us from making independent arrangements.? The order to seal the godowns, he explained, was given to avoid future disputes with the corporation and any confusion that might creep into the book of accounts.

Strangely, however, the corporation?s godown in Ranchi today received fresh stocks of foodgrain from the FCI godown but its office at Jamshedpur was refused permission to lift foodgrain by the FCI. Anomalies, therefore, appear certain to crop up.

There is apprehension that due to the absence of godowns at the disposal of the administration and also shortage of trained and experienced staff, the supply chain could get disrupted seriously.

The decision has also cast a cloud on the future of the corporation?s employees in Jharkhand, who had hoped to get absorbed in the new corporation that should have been formed after division of assets and liabilities.