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Kamal Nath demands CBI probe into PDS rice scam

Team Absolute|Bhopal The Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday demanded a CBI inquiry into the rice scam in the state while alleging that the entire con took place during the earlier and current BJP regime as suggested by the central government’s letter on the swindle. Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath had sought a CBI probe into supply of substandard rice to fair price shops. In a tweet, Nath said the “rice scam” was not confined to Balaghat and Mandla districts but to several other places and was connected to “higher-ups.” “It should be probed by the CBI and the ambit of inquiry should cover districts beyond two districts. Efforts are on to hush-up the scam,” Nath stated. Two days ago, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had said the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) would investigate supply of poor quality rice in Balaghat and Mandla.Nath said, “The scam in Madhya Pradesh is not limited to Balaghat and Mandla districts only. It is spread in many districts and it has a link to higher level. There should be a CBI inquiry into it and scope of probe should be widened to cover other districts also. By talking of just two districts the state government is trying to suppress the scam.”The state government had, on September 2, terminated the services of two quality controllers (of Food and Civil Supplies Corporation FCI) in Balaghat and Mandla and had ordered filing of FIR against millers involved. Notably, analysis of 32 samples of rice in a laboratory, collected from Balaghat and Mandla districts by Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution suggested ‘The stocks are found to be unfit for human consumption and in the categories of Feed-I which is meant to be suitable for livestock feed (such as goat, horse, sheep), Feed-II which is suitable for cattle feed and Feed-III which is suitable for poultry feed, as per the guidelines for the issuance/disposal of the stocks’, according to the ministry’s letter to the state government dated August 21, 2020.

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