Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) State-owned firms lost Rs.1,201 crore on the import and sale of pulses between 2006 and 2011 by failing to stabilise market prices, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) revealed Tuesday.

“As against the targeted quantity of import and sale of 53.10 lakh tonnes of pulses during 2006-11, the agencies imported 30.04 lakh tonnes and sold 26.95 lakh tonnes of pulses during this period, incurring losses totalling Rs.1,201.32 crore on these transactions”, the official auditor said in a report tabled in parliament.

The CAG criticised the government for not being able to make the pulses available even after providing Rs.781.10 crore in subsidies.

“Despite the release of subsidy amounting to Rs.781.10 crore, the twin objectives of the availability of pulses and stabilization of their market prices remained largely unfulfilled,” the CAG said in its audit of “sale and distribution of imported pulses”.

The report looked at Rs.361.39 crore that was spent under the 15 percent loss reimbursement scheme and Rs.419.71 crore which was utilised under the public distribution system (PDS).

The government had introduced a loss reimbursement scheme of up to 15 percent for pulses importing agencies in May 2006.

The second scheme was introduced in November 2008 which envisaged import of four lakh million tonnes of pulses for distribution to below poverty line households through the PDS with an overall subsidy of Rs.10 a kg.

According to the report, the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution did not conduct any survey to assess the demand and consumption of the different types of pulses in the country.

“This should have been done to calculate the actual amounts needed to be imported. The shortfall in imports was as high as 76.13 percent in 2009-10, while the shortfall in disposal of the available quantity of pulses was as high as 50.70 percent during 2008-09,” the report said.

The audit noted that there were some faulty decisions on the part of pulse importing agencies, including the decision to import the yellow peas pulse.

“The peas did not find many takers in the domestic market and were sold after considerable delays at very low rates, with heavy losses to the importing agencies,” the auditor said.

The importing agencies continued to import the peas during the subsequent years even when they had huge unsold stocks.

“The outcome was a total loss of Rs.897.37 crore suffered by the importing agencies, which amounted to 75 percent of the total loss of Rs.1,201.32 crore suffered by them in the process of import.”