<p>The CVC, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice D P Wadhwa in his report said, “Corruption is all pervasive in the entire chain involved in the PDS. It continues to remain a formidable problem. It is true that some officers are doing a good job but then most of the functionaries under them in the Department are typically callous and resort to corrupt practices.” <br /><br />The report which reflects PDS failure in almost all the states was submitted on Tuesday to a bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and K S Radhakrishnan, that was hearing a petition by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) on the need for streamlining the PDS. <br /><br />The Committee slammed PDS in the country as “inefficient and corrupt” and is plagued by black marketing and diversion involving a “vicious cartel of bureaucrats, fair price shop owners and middlemen”.<br /><br />The report said most of the Rs 28,000-crore subsidy annually spent by the Centre was being pocketed by vested interests and suggested drastic action to stem the rot.<br />“It (corruption) is in fact a cancerous growth and has to be chopped off. Patchwork methods will not do,’’ said the report.<br /><br />Advocate Colin Gonzalves, appearing for the PUCL expressed the committee’s concern over the functioning of the PDS in several states, and submitted a chart explaining its working there. <br /><br />There was large-scale diversion of foodgrains supplied to the PDS; black marketing by FPS dealers; a strong nexus between them and officials of the department; improper record-keeping; false entries in registers; and above all political influence and interference hampering public distribution, alleged the report. <br /><br />Starting from Delhi, “the PDS is inefficient and corrupt. There is diversion and black marketing of PDS foodgrains on a large scale. The poor people never get the PDS foodgrains in proper quantity and quality. There is all-round complicity of FPS, transporters and corrupt officials of the Civil Supplies Department.” <br />In Rajasthan, the PDS “is unsatisfactory; there are many irregularities, irregular lifting of grain, no lifting and bulk lifting. PDS has collapsed.” <br /><br />In Bihar, “the most disappointing fact is that foodgrains are not distributed every month. The committee visited many villages and towns and met lots of beneficiaries. It was a general complaint that during the last year, they got foodgrains only for 2 to 3 months.” <br />The state of affairs in Karnataka, Orissa, Uttarakhand and Gujarat was similar, says the report. The Bench will hear the matter again on April 7.<br />DH News Service</p>
<p>The CVC, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice D P Wadhwa in his report said, “Corruption is all pervasive in the entire chain involved in the PDS. It continues to remain a formidable problem. It is true that some officers are doing a good job but then most of the functionaries under them in the Department are typically callous and resort to corrupt practices.” <br /><br />The report which reflects PDS failure in almost all the states was submitted on Tuesday to a bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and K S Radhakrishnan, that was hearing a petition by the People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) on the need for streamlining the PDS. <br /><br />The Committee slammed PDS in the country as “inefficient and corrupt” and is plagued by black marketing and diversion involving a “vicious cartel of bureaucrats, fair price shop owners and middlemen”.<br /><br />The report said most of the Rs 28,000-crore subsidy annually spent by the Centre was being pocketed by vested interests and suggested drastic action to stem the rot.<br />“It (corruption) is in fact a cancerous growth and has to be chopped off. Patchwork methods will not do,’’ said the report.<br /><br />Advocate Colin Gonzalves, appearing for the PUCL expressed the committee’s concern over the functioning of the PDS in several states, and submitted a chart explaining its working there. <br /><br />There was large-scale diversion of foodgrains supplied to the PDS; black marketing by FPS dealers; a strong nexus between them and officials of the department; improper record-keeping; false entries in registers; and above all political influence and interference hampering public distribution, alleged the report. <br /><br />Starting from Delhi, “the PDS is inefficient and corrupt. There is diversion and black marketing of PDS foodgrains on a large scale. The poor people never get the PDS foodgrains in proper quantity and quality. There is all-round complicity of FPS, transporters and corrupt officials of the Civil Supplies Department.” <br />In Rajasthan, the PDS “is unsatisfactory; there are many irregularities, irregular lifting of grain, no lifting and bulk lifting. PDS has collapsed.” <br /><br />In Bihar, “the most disappointing fact is that foodgrains are not distributed every month. The committee visited many villages and towns and met lots of beneficiaries. It was a general complaint that during the last year, they got foodgrains only for 2 to 3 months.” <br />The state of affairs in Karnataka, Orissa, Uttarakhand and Gujarat was similar, says the report. The Bench will hear the matter again on April 7.<br />DH News Service</p>