PDS scam: Cong seeks Raman Singh's resignation, judicial probe

The Congress today stepped up attack on Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh seeking his resignation and a high-level judicial inquiry into the PDS rice scam, after a diary surfaced containing names of the alleged beneficiaries.
"In the garb of providing rice at Re 1 per kg under the much-touted PDS scheme, the BJP government in Chhattisgarh has created a well-oiled corruption machine in connivance with rice mill owners...To earn thousands of crores in kickbacks and commission," the All India Congress Committee (AICC) alleged today.
At a joint press conference attended by top party leaders from Chhattisgarh and AICC General Secretary B K Hariprasad, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi also accused the Raman Singh government of resorting to corruption in distribution of commodities like salt, gram flour, kerosene and wheat.

The magnitude of the scam could be gauged from the fact that during the past 11 years of the BJP rule in Chhattisgar, the amount spent from public exchequer on procurement of paddy as also procurement and supply of various PDS items through the State Civil Supplies Corporation is approximately Rs 1,50,000 crore, the party said.
Singhvi alleged that the diary of one Shiv Shankar Bhatt of the State Civil Supplies Corporation revealed the story of "unprecedented corruption of unimaginable magnitude" by the Chief Minister, his wife, sister-in-law and in-laws as also some state ministers and officials.
The Congress leader claimed that commissions were paid by millers for adulteration of bad quality rice in good rice meant for distribution under PDS.

State Congress Chief Bhupesh Baghel and CLP leader T P Singhdeo were present at the press meet.

Singhvi said the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), probing the scam, has recovered two more diaries exposing the "well-oiled wheel of corruption".
Demanding an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court/High Court judge into the scam, he said this was necessary as the ACB chief has himself conceded that it was beyond him to even think of probing those in the highest echelons of the state.
The Congress also wanted Singh to quit as Chief Minister to ensure that there is a "fair and impartial probe". Singhvi said so far only 12 junior level employees of the corporation have been arrested in connection with the scam.