After a lot of hue and cry, the State government has finally set up an independent inquiry committee headed by a retired High Court judge to inquire into the alleged rice scam involving the Social Welfare Department.
On June 1, Assam police unearthed the scam by seizing one lakh bags of rice from a private godown in Boko of Kamrup district, Assam. Each bag contained 50 kg of rice. The godown belonged to Maruti Quality Products Private Limited.
As per the government notification issued on July 29, the independent inquiry committee will be headed by Justice (Retired) Mool Chand Garg of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
The inquiry committee has been asked to submit it final report within a period of three months from the date of issue of the notification.
The terms of references for the committee will also be to inquire into the quality of fortified Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) food items being supplied to children, pregnant and lactating women under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme and whether any testing is done and whether it is as per the norms.
The committee will also look into whether the quantity of food reaching the beneficiaries is as per norms.
The notification also stated that any further interim reports and recommendations can also be submitted to the State government from time to time prior to the finalisation of the inquiry report.
Earlier, the State government has denied that the rice was illegally diverted to the private godown.
It claimed that the rice was allotted by the Social Welfare Department from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to the approved manufacturer of food items under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP).
It also said that the manufacturer lifted the allotted State quota of the rice from the FCI to process it into micronutrient energy dense fortified food.
