4 suspended for supply of rotten food items in Naxal-hit area

Four government officials were suspended for supply of rotten food items in Jagargunda region of Chhattisgarh's Sukma district.
Based on the directives of Chief Minister Raman Singh, the four were suspended last night for their alleged failure to check the quality of food commodities supplied to Jagargunda on October 1, Sukma Collector Emil Lakra said.
Those suspended are - food officer KR Pisda, food inspectors Dron Kumar Kamde and Sanjay Kumar Kaushik, and revenue inspector Ramesh Kumar Sahu.
Besides, Sukma Additional Collector S R Mahilang, the head of the ration procuring committee for Jagargunda, has been issued a notice in this connection, he said.

The Sukma administration had last week sent ration in around 20 trucks from Dornapal to Jagargunda, one of the worst Naxal-hit regions in South Bastar. Escorted by over 1,000 personnel of paramilitary forces and district police, the ration was delivered at its destination after covering 50 kms of dense forest cover.
Rice, pulses, potatoes, edible oils, onions, grams, soaps and detergents were among the ration consignment meant for around seven villages.

"When the ration consignment was opened in Jagargunda, some edibles were reported to be rotten following which an inquiry team visited the spot," the Collector said.
The probe team, including the Collector and Superintendent of Police D Shrawan, reportedly visited the spot and after examining the quality of ratio took samples of the rotten edibles. The team, however, flew back to Sukma district headquarters abandoning the samples at Jagargunda.

When asked about the matter, the Collector said, "The samples were under the supervision of some other officials and later they were brought by another helicopter to Sukma."
"During inspection, pulses and perishable items like onion and potatoes were found to be rotten while the condition of rest of the ration was good," Lakra said.
The problem was detected in food items procured from contractors and prima facie it seems the food officials didn't check its quality before supply, he said, adding that there was no problem in the quality of rice, salt, grams and other things supplied from the state's civil supply corporation.

Lakda has now issued orders to send fresh ration soon.
"Now our challenge is to send fresh ration as early as possible to Jagargunda. The process has been initiated and very soon it will be done," he added.