Exposed in the report of the Accountant General of the CAG

• Pratap Bhanu Sharma

The state is being identified as a ‘Scam State’ under Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is instrumental in doing so. After Vyapam scam, Dumper scam, E-tender scam, now the Nutritional food transport scam has come to the fore in the state. A 36-page confidential report of the Accountant General of Madhya Pradesh has exposed the scam in the production, distribution, transportation and storage of nutritional food in the Department of Women and Child Development.

Discrepancies have surfaced in the distribution of the nutritional food in Madhya Pradesh - disclosed in the audit report of the CAG. According to the report, nutritional food worth Rs. 110.83 crores has been distributed only on paper.

Irregularities have been found in the transportation, distribution, storage and production of nutritional food in the report of the Accountant General of Madhya Pradesh. Unlimited production was done at many places in spite of low raw material and power consumption for production. According to the report, despite the absence of mall stock at some plants, the distribution was shown on paper. No survey was conducted for the number of girls who were school dropouts. Their number was fixed in lakhs according to one’s own whims and fancies and nutritious food was falsely distributed.

According to the report, the trucks which are mentioned to have transported 1100 tonnes of nutritional food, have actually turned out to be motorcycle and scooter numbers. That is, the companies did an incredible job of carrying nutritional food by motorcycles equating their capacity to a truck’s. Not only this, the officials have also given 7 crore rupees to the companies for fake transportation. Now, there has been a stir when the Auditor General has investigated this matter. Nutritious food is distributed to malnourished children and pregnant women in Anganwadis working under the Department of Women and Child Development in Madhya Pradesh. The responsibility of providing nutritional food was given to private companies.

According to the Auditor General’s report, the registration numbers of trucks given by these agencies for transportation were cross-checked from the web sites of other states including Madhya Pradesh; where they had been mentioned to come from. On checking these web sites, it was found that the truck registration numbers so mentioned were in reality the registration numbers of scooters, motorcycles, cars and autos, which proved that instead of distributing nutritional food, the companies showed entries only on paper. It was revealed in the investigation report that in Bhopal, Chhindwara, Dhar, Jhabua, Rewa, Sagar, Satna, Shivpuri districts, about 97 thousand metric tonnes of nutritional food was said to be in stock, while about 87 thousand metric tonnes of food was said to be distributed i.e. about 10,000 metric tonnes of food was missing, which was worth Rs. 62 crores. it occurs. Similarly, in two development blocks of Shivpuri district, Khaniyadhana and Kolaras, within just 8 months, Rs. 5 crores were paid in the name of nutritional food. They did not even maintain any stock register. Not only this, but without due process, the officials made full payment to the firms involved in corruption.

Further, it was also found that about 40 thousand metric tonnes of food was distributed of substandard quality and the officers also paid Rs. 238 crores. Still, no action was taken against those supplying substandard goods. It is to be noted here that since the year 2020, this department is under the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Accountant General’s report suggests that this ambitious plan was fully revamped after a two-year break during the Covid period, but it left school children hungry and frustrated. The scale of the scam is such that 6 ‘Take Home Ration’ manufacturing plants/firms claimed to have transported 1125.64 MT costing 6.94 crores but on investigation it was found that all the numbers belong to motorcycles and scooters. Truck is not even remotely present in the database.

In Madhya Pradesh, Rs. 6,747 crores were spent on mid-day meal in the last five years, of which Rs. 6,222 crores had to be paid to the cook, which was 12 percent of the total expenditure. The shocking information that has surfaced in the mid-day meal is that, that in 2019-20, when things had been normal, there were 65 lakh enrolments in schools, out of which 47.61 lakh children were given food, while in 2020-21 when during Corona Period there was a long lockdown, it is claimed that door-to-door delivery of mid-day meals was done to 65.86 lakh children, whereas this enrolment stood only at 64.34 lakh. Apart from this, 1618 crores rupees and 1.89 lakh metric tonnes of food grains were given at the control rate.

The CAG in its audit and the Public Accounts Committee found that the attendance of children in government schools was barely 25 to 40 percent, while the mid-day meal supplier has claimed to have provided 80 to 98 percent of the food.

Why is every time there a scam in the Chief Minister’s department? Taking the responsibility of this scam, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan should resign. The Department of Women and Child Development is with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

A scam of crores of rupees kept happening right under the nose of the Chief Minister and poor children and girls continued to yearn for nutritious food, but the so-called ‘Mama’ (uncle) did not even know this or is it all a result of collusion? Madhya Pradesh is witnessing centre-stage corruption under BJP’s rule. There is corruption in the construction of roads. Newly built dams are washed away. No work is being done in government offices without bribe. Today, the farmer, the youth and the general public are troubled and shocked by the mismanagement of the BJP government of the state. Remove Shivraj, Save the State.

(The author is a Vice President Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and former Member of Parliament)