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CVC slams wheat import, wants tranparency
Published on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 00:49, Updated on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 01:02 in 
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TAKING A STRONG VIEW: CVC has so far has steered clear of accusing anyone of corruption.
New Delhi: The Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) is investigating allegations of corruption into the wheat imports and says there have been systemic lapses in the process of procurement.
Some Members of Parliament and civil society groups have alleged that there were lapses in the procurement of wheat last year.
In 2007 17 lakh metric tonnes of wheat were imported for the Public Distribution Scheme at twice the price the government paid Indian farmers.
And now, for the first time, an investigating agency has said what civil society groups have alleged for over a year- that the process of procurement was seriously flawed.
"Our own finding so far is that perhaps the department should have gone about it in a systematic manner and there is need for systems improvement. There were gaps in the system," Central Vigilance Commissioner Pratyush Sinha says.
The CVC has so far has steered clear of accusing anyone of corruption. But at the same time has not given anyone a clean chit yet.
It does not have the mandate to probe the role of ministers but it is looking closely at the role of the Department of Food and the State Trading Corporation.
"We have found lapses more in the manner in which the process has been gone through rather than any individual lapses. There is no evidence to prove corruption," Sinha says.
So seriously flawed is the system of imports that the CVC has suggested an entire revamp.
"The new system must take care of three things in public procurement - transparency, equitable and competitive because this is the best way of price discovery," he says.
The Commission has not finalised its report yet. Investigations into the quality of the imports are yet to begin.
Among the questions it still has to answer are whether markets manipulated by foreign players did the government pay more than it should have.
Why did the government withdraw tenders at $263 per tonne only to pay more?
Don't be misled by the mild and measured words of the CVC. They contain a strong indictment of the processes and systems of procurement and though Union Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Sharad Pawar is out of the purview of the CVC, but he cannot escape either responsibility or embarrassment.
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Rising food grain problem is not to for this current year. It will become more severe in the coming years.
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