India News | Cong Alleges Irregularities in MP Food Grain Scheme, BJP Refutes Charges

Bhopal, Jul 19 (PTI) Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday said the Madhya Pradesh government's free food grain distribution scheme in view of the coronavirus pandemic was full of irregularities and sought a probe into the matter by a special investigation team or the Central Bureau of Investigation.

He said the "ration mafia" in the state was indulging in corruption in the distribution of food grains even as people bore the brunt of the pandemic and lockdown.

Addressing a press conference, Singh alleged that just two-month worth of food grains were distributed even though the Centre had announced the scheme for five months.

While people were to be given food grains under the Food Security for the months of April, May and June, they were to get food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana for May and June, and the Centre had allotted 4,70 lakh metric tons of wheat in April this year.

"A SIT or CBI probe should be conducted into the rampant bungling to the tune of several thousand crore rupees. Ration shops made entries in the Centre's portal but did not provide food grains to beneficiaries," Singh claimed.

Refuting the allegations, MP BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said people were getting food grains in prescribed quantity across the state and there were no reports of bungling from anywhere.

The Congress is misleading people as such irregularities are happening in states ruled by them, Agrawal claimed.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)