Team Herald
PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Goa unit said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) preferred to destroy toor dal rather than disbursing it to the needy people.
The AAP said that every Goan remembers and appreciates the party’s campaign to distribute ration kits house-to-house during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. The ration kits contained toor dal and sugar besides other commodities.
“It is unconscionable that the BJP government let the tonnes of these basic rations go to waste by sheer negligence. The BJP government should have handed these rations to AAP to distribute last year but they preferred to let it rot instead of benefitting the Goans during their time of need,” the party stated.
On the other hand, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude on Saturday said that the then Director of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs was told to dispose of 241 metric tonnes of damaged toor dal lying in godowns and added that he was ready for inquiry to fix the responsibility.
“The Director of Civil Supplies was told to dispose off toor dal lying in godowns in January 2021. It was also signed by Chief Minister but the then director delayed to dispose of it,” said Gaude, who was the Minister for Civil Supplies when 400 metric tonnes of toor dal was procured in April 2020.
Reacting to this, the opposition Congress demanded to know why the government did not follow up on the issue of toor dal.
Congress chief spokesman Amarnath Panjikar also sought to know why sugar was kept lying in the godowns.
Meanwhile, President of Goa Pradesh Mahila Congress Beena Naik on Saturday demanded the sacking of the Minister and officials concerned, who are responsible for the wastage of toor dal (pigeon pea) and sugar.
“We demand immediate sacking of all the concerned authorities along with the Minister who is responsible for this huge loss. Also, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant must act immediately and conduct a high-level inquiry into this matter under the supervision of a High Court judge,” Naik stated.
Naik also alleged that the government is deliberately allowing the goods to get spoiled in order “to facilitate private companies to import the essential commodities and earn fortunes”.
Stating that the “insensitivity of BJP government is exposed with reports of sugar melting in the government godowns,” Naik alleged that the government has no value for the efforts taken by the farmers in producing the food items.
The State Mahila Congress president said, “It is astonishing to see the criminal wastage of 241 metric tonnes of toor dal and 10.3 metric tonnes of sugar worth almost Rs 3.5 crore.
