The government auditor CAG has pulled up Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution for not monitoring imports of pulses resulting in a loss of over Rs1,200 crore to four state trading agencies.
State-owned trading agencies -- MMTC, STC, PEC and Nafed -- suffered losses of over Rs1,201 crore on import and sale of pulses between 2006 and 2011 without succeeding in price stabilisation in the market, CAG has said.
"As against the targeted quantity of import and sale of 53.10 lakh tonnes of pulses during 2006-11, the agencies imported 30.04 lakh tonnes and sold 26.95 lakh tonnes of pulses during this period, incurring losses totalling Rs1,201.32 crore on these transactions," the CAG said in a report presented in Parliament on Monday.
Interestingly, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) found that out of the total losses of Rs 1,201.32 crore, as much as Rs 897.37 crore (75%) was incurred only on account of yellow peas as there were not much demand for this variety in domestic market, but imports continued.
The CAG rapped the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution for inadequate monitoring that led to failure in ensuring the proper distribution of imported pulses in the domestic market.
"What was the demand for different kind of pulses. They (ministry of consumer affairs) had no idea. They did not conduct any survey for assessing the demand and went in for adhoc target," Deputy CAG Malashri Prasad told reporters in Delhi.
When asked which ministry was responsible for the huge losses, she quipped "consumer affairs ministry as it was the nodal ministry for the scheme".
