Left joins oppn, takes govt to task on wheat imports

NDA stages walkout; Brinda Karat questions govt's farm policies

The UPA government came under attack from the Left parties and the BJP-led NDA in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of import of wheat. The NDA staged a walkout from the House, alleging that pesticide content of the imported wheat was five times the permissible limit.

The parties demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh be present in the House during discussions on this issue later in this session.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi said since the prime minister had a busy schedule, he would have to check when he was available for taking part in the discussion.

Minister of State for Agriculture Akhilesh Prasad Singh said against the earlier expectation of 162 lakh tonnes of wheat procurement, the figure would be 95-100 lakh tonnes this year. On the presence of excessive pesticides, he said a Mysore laboratory had cleared the consignments from Australia.

Singh said importing five lakh tonnes of wheat for southern states was cheaper than transporting wheat from northern states. For instance, transporting it from Punjab to southern states would cost Rs 10.30 per kg, he said.

The minister said the contract had been awarded to the lowest bidder, M/s Australian Wheat Board, at 178.75 dollars per metric tonne. The landed cost at the ports worked out to Rs 798.12 per quintal, he added.

In a related development, CPI(M) MP Brinda Karat has written to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar questioning the government's policies.

"Aggressive interventions by private traders...have resulted in their being able to corner a much larger share of the grain that came to the market. There are also reports that big foreign companies have entered the market though agents," she said.

The private traders not only came to the market before official agencies but also had free access to different areas to buy from farmers, she added.