People's Democracy

ANDHRA PRADESH

Large Scale Misuse Under Food For Work Programme

M Venugopala Rao

AFTER the onset of Chandrababu Naidu's "path-breaking" reforms, Andhra Pradesh topped in the number of suicides and starvation deaths in the country. Faced with severe drought this year, the spectre of unprecedented starvation deaths loomed large over the state. Ostensibly to meet this situation, the state government launched the food for work programme (FFWP) in order to provide wage employment and to ensure food security in the entire drought affected areas.

But soon, the purpose of this launch became clear as the scheme was misused on a large scale with the active involvement from the level of  ministers down to the lower level functionaries of the ruling Telugu Desam Party, officers, contractors, rice millers, ration shop dealers and others. 

Reports of diversion of rice intended for FFW programme have been appearing in the media almost every day. The FFW rice from Kuppam constituency represented by the chief minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, was confiscated when it was being transported to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. FFW rice worth about Rs. 4 crore was found when it was being recycled  by millers, alleged to be the followers of the home minister, at the Charlapalli godowns of the FCI.  When the special branch police confiscated   rice being diverted in lorries at Palakollu, in West Godavari district, the local DSP, at the behest of the minister for power,  came to the police station at mid night and got the lorries with rice stocks released,  recording in the general diary of the police station that it was being done on the instruction of the minister and that the stock in the lorries was paddy and not rice. However, the district collector in her report confirmed that the stock in the lorries seized by the Palakollu police was rice and not paddy.  Similarly, officers of the vigilance and enforcement department confiscated four lorry loads of rice at Done in Kurnool district and arrested a TDP worker and three others when they were trying to transport the rice to Mumbai and Hyderabad.  They are alleged to be the relatives  and followers of the minister for minor irrigation, who represents the Done constituency.  Reports appeared in the media that lorry loads of rice when confiscated in Khammam district  was got released  by the minister for roads and buildings.  These are just a few examples only.

DESIGNED FOR

SIPHONING

According to a status report of the government, the FFW programme is being implemented with  a massive quantity of 31.5 lakh tonnes of rice, worth about Rs 3150 crore, given free of cost by the government of India, and cash of Rs.990 crore.  Against 7 lakh works sanctioned, as on August 12, 5.83 lakh works were grounded out of which 4.50 lakh works were completed, creating 28.40 crore mandays and distributing 26.34 lakh tonnes of rice to the workers.

The attitude of the government from the very beginning tended towards providing undue benefit to the followers of the ruling party rather than creating mandays and the very guidelines of the programme provided scope for misuse and corruption. 

As per the guidelines issued by the government, the workers under the FFW programme can choose payment of wages per manday in any of the three options  -  5 kg of rice plus Rs. 30  or 8 kg of rice plus Rs.10 or 10 kg of rice without any cash component.  The selection of works under the FFW programme and release of rice were done indiscriminately, and not on the basis of the severity of drought situation. 

In the selection of works under the FFW programme, involvement of the people by conducting gram sabhas (village meetings) was not ensured.  The proposals of village panchayats for selection of works have been ignored in many cases.

While the FFW programme was started in October last,  during the period from December 2001 to February 2002, when normal work was available to the workers, the utilisation of rice under the programme was shown as 15 lakh tonnes .  When the drought situation was severe during June and July this year, the government failed to provide work under FFW to the workers. 

The FFW programme has been misused in various ways.  Contrary to the guidelines, instead of sanctioning cash, rice was given towards material component of the works and machines were allowed to be used for execution of works.  The guidelines clearly say that all the earth work should be executed only manually and that the estimates for such works must be prepared based on manual rate.  The district collectors were specifically cautioned that "in no circumstances manual labour rates be permitted for works executed by machines".  However, the contractors have been given rice by working out its value at the rate of Rs.5.65 per kg, whereas the open market price of rice is around Rs.10 per kg.  By selling away the rice in the open market and by recycling the same to the Food Corporation of India at procurement price, the difference is pocketed by the contractors, including politicians, and other middlemen in collusion with the officers concerned.  According to one estimate,  the difference works out to about Rs.400 crore. 

If the 28 lakh tonnes of rice claimed to have been utilised under the FFW, in addition to the 22 lakh tonnes of subsidy rice being distributed to the poor under the public distribution system,  had been distributed properly, the two crore agricultural workers and poor peasants in the state  would have got at least 10 bags of rice per family, which might have been adequate for coming two years to meet their requirements.  However, the state government, in its report on drought situation submitted to the government of India, claimed that the agricultural workers and poor farmers were severely affected by drought and requested the central government for an assistance of another 15 lakh tonnes of rice and Rs.810 crore as a grant.

OPPOSITION FOR

CBI ENQUIRY

When the opposition parties, including the CPI(M), demanded the government to order an enquiry by the CBI or a  judicial enquiry into the implementation of the FFW programme in the light of revelation  of umpteen instances of its misuse and corruption, the Chandrababu Naidu government bluntly refused to oblige.  With a view to escaping from the criticism of the opposition  parties and the people, the state government asked the Engineering Staff College of India(ESCI)  and the vigilance and enforcement department to undertake a random check of the works taken up and the assets created under the  FFW programme. According to the status report of the government, while ESCI and the vigilance and enforcement department inspected 38221 works under the FFW programme, irregularities were

noticed in 3169 works.

Even going by the findings of the ESCI and the vigilance and enforcement department, in about 9 per cent of the works implemented under the FFW programme irregularities and corruption took place.  This is only a tip of the iceberg, going by the number of inspections made vis a vis the total number of works sanctioned and implemented. It is evident from  the status report of the government  that action was taken against a few lower-rung officers and others and that important people from the level of ministers down to the lower functionaries of the ruling party involved in irregularities and corruption have been left scot-free.  Unable to face criticism from the opposition parties based on irrefutable facts, the CM, ministers and other functionaries of the ruling party started a weak-kneed campaign that the opposition parties were trying to obstruct sanction of rice for the programme by the government of India.  The opposition parties made it clear that they were not against the FFW programme but its misuse.

At  the seventh all-party meeting conducted by the revenue minister on August 21,  CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Koratala Satyanarayana and state committee member B Venkat submitted a memorandum to the minister explaining how the FFW programme was being misused and corruption taking place. They found fault with the government for not permitting implementation of the suggestions made by the Opposition  in the all-party meetings.  They also made it clear that the CPI(M) was of the opinion that corruption took place in the implementation of the FFW programme because of the rules of the government and its encouragement.  The leaders told the government that if it was really interested  in providing benefit to the poor and curbing corruption in the implementation of the  FFW programme, it should take immediate steps as suggested in their memorandum.

Protesting against irregularities and corruption in the implementation of the FFW programme, the 9 Left parties, including the CPI(M) and the CPI,  conducted dharnas on August 21 at all the mandal and district headquarters and several other centres  through out the state.  They challenged the government to hold an enquiry into the implementation of the FFW programme and  said they were prepared to prove the irregularities and corruption that took place in the implementation of the programme.  Addressing the dharna conducted in Hyderabad,  secretary of the state committee of the CPI(M),  B V Raghavulu, demanded the chief minister to remove the ministers who committed irregularities from the cabinet and made it clear that otherwise it would imply that the chief minister himself was responsible for the corruption. S Sudhakar Reddy, secretary  of state council of the CPI, A K Biswas, leader of the MCPI, Jaswanth Reddy, leader of Unity Initiative, Subba Reddy, leader of  SUCI, and leaders of several front organisations addressed the dharna.