New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) In a major clean-up operation, state-owned FCI has suspended two senior officers and transferred 30 others after CBI arrested a DGM-level officer for allegedly taking bribes from private millers to allow the supply of lower quality foodgrains.

The suspension and transfers have been ordered to allow the probe not being allowed to be influenced in any way, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra told reporters here on Thursday.

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The Food Corporation of India (FCI), which is the government's nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, is publicising whistleblower policy and taking steps to reduce discretionary powers of field-level officers, the secretary said.

"What happened in FCI was very unfortunate. We are deeply concerned about the occurring in the FCI. So two officers have been suspended because they were involved in these activities and CBI has raided. I am told some officers have been transferred," Chopra said.

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The secretary said that four category 1 officers, 8 category II officers and 18 category III officers have been transferred from their places so that they are not able to influence the investigation.

Chopra said the FCI will ensure that all guilty get punished and are taken to task as per the law.

On January 11, the CBI launched 'Operation Kanak' on alleged corruption in FCI, conducting searches at 50 locations in Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi after arresting a DGM-rank officer from Chandigarh.

The CBI booked a total of 74 accused in the FIR after a six-month long undercover operation to identify suspects in the syndicate of officials, rice mill owners and middlemen, among others who were allegedly indulging in corrupt practices.

According to the CBI FIR, an organised syndicate of FCI officers charged bribes ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 4,000 per truck unloaded at godowns from private millers to cover up lower quality grains supplied by them and to extend other favours.

Replying to questions related to corruption in the FCI, Chopra stressed on the need to address the systemic issue in the organisation.

"The systemic issue is basically in the purview of reducing the level of discretion which is there at the level of field officers of FCI. So the moment we are able to reduce the discretion, obviously the scope of all these activities will go down," he said.

To reduce the discretionary powers, the secretary said that a number of things have been initiated in recent weeks.

"We have a whistle-blower policy which we are now trying to ensure that it is widely publicised and disseminated," Chopra said.

The secretary informed that the FCI will introduce an "automatic grain analyser" to check the quality of foodgrains brought to the FCI without any human interface.

Chopra said this machine would be deployed in 50 locations this month and based on the success, it will be gradually rolled out to all FCI procurement centres.

The secretary said this machine would go a long way in ensuring that discretion with the field level level is brought down to a minimum.

That apart, the food ministry and the FCI are taking more steps to ensure that there is no scope for corruption. This includes engaging with rice millers.

Last week, Food Minister Piyush Goyal termed the CBI investigation into alleged corruption in Food Corporation of India (FCI) a "wake-up call" for the state-owned firm and asserted that those involved in corrupt practices would not be spared.

The FCI would follow the principle of zero tolerance for corruption, the minister had said.

Goyal had directed the officials to institutionalise a mechanism wherein whistle-blowers should be rewarded. He had asked all officers and staff of FCI to report any incident of corruption.

(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)