Report

Sonia Gandhi writes to Prime Minister on Procurement Scheme

Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Oppostition (Lok Sabha), sent the following letter to the Prime Minister, on November 18, 2002:

Dear Prime Minister,

This refers to the Decentralized Procurement Scheme announced by yout Government some time back. I had an opportunity to discuss this in a meeting of all Congress Chief Ministers that was held at Mount Abu recently. Many State Governments are finding it difficult to accept the scheme. Those Congress governed States that are trying to implement it are also facing numerous practical problems. Despite several facilities announced by the Central Government that include support for creation of additional storage capacity, voluntary adoption, availability of FCI/Central Warehousing Corporation godowns, manpower training, etc., the scheme is difficult to implement because of poor execution of commitments by the Centre. I list below the common problems that were brought to my notice:-

Although the costs are supposed to be met in advance, the expenditure on procurement is taking upto 20 months to be re-imbursed by the Gol; Interest charges are paid for only 3-4 months when re-imbursement is made after 15-20 months; The economic costs of procurement and distribution are decided unilaterally by the GOI and are grossly inadequate; Service charges and commissions are denied to state agencies and cooperative societies engaged in procurement; The storage charges sanctioned are far below actuals; Storage charges are allowed for short periods when actual storage periods are longer; Costs of internal transportation are disallowed; Paddy milling charges are allowed at outdated rates; FCI is not accepting raw rice produced by milling; Despite the guarantee for 7 year’s rent payable by FCI, proposals for creating addtional storage facility are being turned down by the FCI; If the Central Government seriously desires to make this scheme acceptable to the States, these shortcomings need to be addressed.

With regards,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

Sonia Gandhi

The Opposition Leader and Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, with the Russian President, Shri Vladimir Putin, in New Delhi. Senior Congress leaders, Shri Manmohan Singh and Shri Natwar Singh, are also seen.