NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has cautioned the government that corruption in state-owned Food Corporation of India (FCI) may “spiral out of control” if strict action is not taken. The standing committee on food and consumer affairs has recommended the FCI to strengthen its vigilance mechanism and take stringent punitive action against those found guilty.
The panel headed by Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay has recommended that senior officers should be held accountable for uprooting corruption. It has also said the FCI staff may be transferred after a fixed period to avoid creation of vested interests. “The committee members are of the view that corruption in FCI may spiral out of control if strict action is not taken,” the panel said.
Registering its anguish over the pending corruption cases, the panel said even after taking various remedial measures, 817 cases were registered against FCI officials during 2017-18, 829 in 2018-19, 691 cases in 2019-20 and 406 cases have been filed till September 2020. It has recommended that efforts should be made for early disposal of pending cases as delay in disposal of vigilance cases would encourage corrupt practices and undermine the authority of law.
It also took note of how three cases have been referred to the CBI and another three to the CVC.
The panel has also flagged how the FCI could not achieve physical and financial targets for construction of godowns in 2020-21. It said the achievement was “nil” in the North-Eastern states where the FCI had set a target for storage of 3 lakh tonnes. Similarly, for the remaining states, the physical target was 6,220 tonnes but achievement was also “nil”.
The panel headed by Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay has recommended that senior officers should be held accountable for uprooting corruption. It has also said the FCI staff may be transferred after a fixed period to avoid creation of vested interests. “The committee members are of the view that corruption in FCI may spiral out of control if strict action is not taken,” the panel said.
Registering its anguish over the pending corruption cases, the panel said even after taking various remedial measures, 817 cases were registered against FCI officials during 2017-18, 829 in 2018-19, 691 cases in 2019-20 and 406 cases have been filed till September 2020. It has recommended that efforts should be made for early disposal of pending cases as delay in disposal of vigilance cases would encourage corrupt practices and undermine the authority of law.
It also took note of how three cases have been referred to the CBI and another three to the CVC.
The panel has also flagged how the FCI could not achieve physical and financial targets for construction of godowns in 2020-21. It said the achievement was “nil” in the North-Eastern states where the FCI had set a target for storage of 3 lakh tonnes. Similarly, for the remaining states, the physical target was 6,220 tonnes but achievement was also “nil”.
