�Low quality� wheat import
Ministry cannot avoid responsibility:?JS?body
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Food Ministry has said that the ministry cannot avoid its responsibility for importing rotten wheat even though the Directorate of Food had made the imports. Talking to reporters yesterday, committee chairman Abdul Wadud Dara said they have asked for all the documents regarding the wheat import and their test reports from the ministry.
Meanwhile, Food Minister Qamrul Islam yesterday again rubbished reports that the imported wheat from Brazil was rotten. Replying to a supplementary question in parliament from independent lawmaker Pir Fazlur Rahman, Qamrul Islam said, Actually, the Brazilian wheat does not look beautiful, but the quality is good. Qamrul also informed the House that of the two lakh tonnes of wheat imported from Brazil, 1.74 lakh tonnes have already been distributed.
The parliamentary committee chairman told reporters that they had sought clarification from the food ministry on the much-talked about wheat consignment from Brazil. Abdul Wadud Dara also alleged that newspapers were busy to involve the food minister with the wheat consignment. He, however, mentioned that the minister cannot escape his responsibility in the matter.
Replying to a question, Dara said the committee would take its next course of action after the High Court issues its directives on a writ petition on the imported Brazilian wheat worth about Tk. 400 crore.
Meanwhile, the food minister informed parliament that, when questions were raised regarding the quality of the imported wheat, they had collected samples from Directorate of Food warehouses in different districts and got them tested by Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
The test results showed that the quality of wheat was all right. The question that arises is where the newspapers got the information that the wheat was rotten, he said.
Answering a question on whether actions would be taken against those involved in importing rotten wheat, the minister said since the Directorate of Food imported the grains, his ministry has nothing to do with it.
The minister also claimed that some political parties and newspapers are engaged in anti-government propaganda. He also asked journalists to test the imported wheat and not to publish fictitious reports.
