Gadkari seeks PM intervention in food grain mismanagement

In a 14-question poser to Singh, Gadkari has demanded to know how the UPA government planned to augment storage capacity in warehouses and cold storages in the next 25 years.

“Nearly 80 lakh tones of wheat is lying in the open and rotting and further 225 lakh tonnes of wheat has been bought by the FCI. How much of this will remain in the open?” he asked the Prime Minister, while addressing reporters here on Thursday.

Grain stock rotting

Gadkari regretted that while  the poor were dying of hunger and malnutrition and farmers were committing suicide, the government had done little to take care of mounting food grain stocks that were rotting in the open.

Blaming inflation and price rise of essential commodities on bad governance and wrong policies of the UPA, Gadkari said the government had failed on all accounts in the past one year of its rule.

“Whether it is the matter of internal or external security manifesting in threats from Naxalites and terrorists or economy policy, the UPA government has scored a big zero,” he said.

Opposing resumption of any dialogue with Pakistan, Gadkari said till the neighbouring country proved its credibility by stopping sponsoring and supporting cross-border terrorism, dialogue would not serve any purpose.

Asked about intra-party differences in the Punjab’s BJP unit where the partymen have accused a BJP minister of corruption, Gadkari said it was “unfortunate”. He said he had told the partymen not to air their differences in public and avoid talking to the media.
On the issue of khap (clan councils) panchayats of Haryana, Gadkari said it was a “delicate issue” and had to be dealt by keeping in mind “social intricacies”.

Remaining non-committal on denouncing the unconstitutional functioning of khap panchayats, Gadkari, however, said law of the land was supreme.