From Our Correspondent
Mendipathar, Oct 26: Even as the FCI denied any form of controversy in the Public Distribution System (PDS) following a report in The Shillong Times over various aspects of transport and labour problems impacting rice distribution, another rake with 21 bogeys of rice remains stuck in the Mendipathar Railway Station for over a week.
Following information of rice being dumped by the side of the tracks and kept there without any form of protection from nature, except for tarpaulin sheets to cover, the rice had been left there for three days by the contractors before it was moved on October 17. On the very same day, another rake with rice meant for PDS reached the station. While the earlier batch of rice was cleared, the new rake remained without any form of movement to clear the stock.
Shockingly, a week later, on October 24, the train remained in the same place with none of the bogies being offloaded for transport to the four districts that the Mendipathar Railway Station caters to.
The two contractors responsible for the distribution are Mahipal Yadav (under the name of Arjun Nongrum) and Abhijeet Dutta (RS Contractors). While Yadav is taking care of West Khasi Hills and West Garo Hills, Dutta handles the districts of East and South Garo Hills.
Talking to labourers, truckers, as well as FCI sources revealed what was really going on.
“This has been happening ever since the two contractors took the job assigned by the FCI to them. There have been multiple times that labour payments and clearance of dues for goods trucks have run into rough weather over failure to pay. This time too, the situation is the same as truckers are demanding clearance of their dues before they undertake distribution,” said a trucker at the site of the station.
According to sources, the delay in clearing stock at the station has become a regular feature and costs the contractors huge fines while also delaying the distribution of something as essential as rice under PDS. “Normally, rakes such as these are cleared within the same day so as to minimize losses and ensure the PDS system is not delayed. Delays in other parts of the country are extremely rare as contractors try to minimize fines imposed by the railways for delays. The amounts are significant so the urgency. However, in no case in Mendipathar have the rakes been cleared in a single day,” said a source from FCI.
Delays in unloading at Mendipathar have stretched from two days to a mind-boggling nine days, with the latest instance already threatening to break the record. As per railway sources, the contractor is made to pay for holding up the rake in a progressive system where the longer the hold-up, the larger the fine. In the case of the nine-day delay, an amount of over ₹39 lakhs was charged to the two contractors. The present instance could go beyond the ₹39 lakh ‘demarrage’ charged by the railways.
The present situation is not looking pretty with the visit on October 23, showing just a few trucks lined up at the rail site, but no movement to unload the rice that has been stalled for a week.
Some of the truckers revealed that unpaid dues to them were the reason why many of them have stopped carrying goods. The lack of trucks has hindered the operation, even as various FCI depots across the 4 districts reported a lack of grains in stock.
Earlier, the Government of India had struck down on the overloading of trucks and initially allowed only 9 MT for LP trucks, which was then revised to 12 MT. The Centre had set FCI as an example to show its willingness to adhere to legal norms. However, the recent visit to the Mendipathar station showed these same LP trucks (6 wheels) carrying loads in excess of 25 MT.
This development was caught on camera with the labourers in the dumping site stating they were loading more than 500 bags of rice into each truck for transport.
A source stated that this was communicated to the contractors on several occasions, but despite the repeated reminders, somehow the contractors have continued to carry on with their illegal acts, despite FCI being a government enterprise.
Another issue that was found was that the rice bags were being dumped on-site without any form of warehousing, despite there being no real permission to do so.
“These bags are dumped on-site near the railway line and sometimes kept there for days without any form of protection from the elements. The last batch was kept at the site for over 4 days before it was moved. This has been taking place in almost all batches that come and go. The only protection these bags have is tarpaulin sheets that cover them,” said a local resident.
Sources added that in no other railway station does clearing of stocks take so long as it does in the Mendipathar RS by the contractors.
“Other places clear their stock within hours of it landing. Here, there has been almost no instance where stocks were cleared the same day, mainly because the contractors seem very ill prepared. FCI godowns are mandated to ensure buffer stock for emergencies, but this delay caused by the contractors has put everyone on a knife-edge,” added the source.
Meanwhile, attempts to contact the FCI in Shillong on the issues being faced remained futile as calls and messages to clarify the allegation went unanswered.
