Bhopal: 17,400 quintal onion goes missing, inquiry ordered

A five-member inquiry committee headed by additional district magistrate that will look into the matter and submit its report within a week.

Updated on: Aug 4, 2017, 20:17:40 IST

Hindustan Times, Bhopal | By Neeraj Santoshi

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Over 17,400 quintals of onion has gone “missing” in Bhopal, prompting the administration to institute an inquiry into the matter. The alleged scam came to notice during a routine checking of records of two mandis in Bhopal by food and civil supply corporation.

Onions at Neemuch Mandi in Madhya Pradesh. (HT Photo)

Bhopal collector Sudam Khade told HT that this year 27,000 metric tonnes of onion had been procured in Bhopal by the Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited.

“In the preliminary findings regarding procurement, distribution selling and disposal of the onions at Bhopal’s Karondh mandi, it was found that 17,400 quintals of onion was not accounted for. So to trace the missing onions, I constituted a five-member inquiry committee headed by additional district magistrate that will look into the matter and submit its report within a week or so,” he said.

Khade said that Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited and food and civil supplies corporation have been asked to provide all details and documents related to procurement, storage, disposal and selling of the onions.

Amid farmer unrest in the state and crashing onion prices, the state government in June decided to buy onion at ₹8 per kg and sell it through fair price shops at Rs 2 per kg.

Brajesh Dwivedi, manager (marketing) at Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited, said the issue of missing onions will be clear only when all the details and documents from both the agencies are checked thoroughly by the inquiry committee. “At the moment we can’t say anything beyond this,” he said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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