Explain foodgrain rot, parties tell govt

A day after Supreme Court took note of a Hindustan Times report on foodgrain rotting in the country for want of storage facilities, political parties raised the matter in and outside Parliament on Wednesday. HT reports.

A day after Supreme Court took note of a Hindustan Times report on foodgrain rotting in the country for want of storage facilities, political parties raised the matter in and outside Parliament on Wednesday.

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They demanded a reply from the government as to what was being done to save stocks.

Pressing for an adjournment motion on the price rise issue, Bahujan Samaj Party's Dara Singh referred to the court's directions to the government to submit a report on the grain rot in six states.

On Tuesday, the apex court had sought a response to HT's report from the Centre, declaring that grain should not be allowed to rot but be distributed to the hungry.

The Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav sought to know "why there was scarcity of foodgrain when all godowns were full".

The CPI's Basudev Acharya said his party wanted a definite reply on why the government had failed to control price rise even as lakhs of tonnes of wheat was rotting in godowns.

Congress MP and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Mohinder Singh Kaypee, meanwhile, demanded a CBI probe, especially into the waste in his state.

He said the Punjab government must answer why huge stocks were being allowed to rot in the open.