Pulses export scam: BJP finds flaw in Govt ban notification

New Delhi, May 8 (UNI) Alleging ''serious manipulations in Dubai and Cook Islands'' in the illegal export of pulses from India, the BJP today questioned the Government in the Rajya Sabha as to why it did not specify in the notification for ban on the exports that letters of credit will not honour prior exemption.

''While this was specified in the case of the ban notification regarding wheat and sugar, it was not done so in the case of pulses leaving scope for serious manipulations in Dubai and Cook Islands,'' senior Member and BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said to Finance Minister P Chidambaram during the Question Hour in the House.

The issue cropped up during the Finance Minister's replies on the rise in the inflation rate which he ascribed to demand-supply mismatch.

Mr Chidambaram, however, passed the ball in the court of the Commerce Ministry, saying ''I do not make any notifications in the Finance Ministry. This is issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade.'' He, however, said the foreign trade policy provides for letters of credit honouring prior exemptions unless otherwise notified.

The Minister, however, said some persons had used the provisions to manipulate illegal export of pulses.

It was suspected in that in three cases date in the letters of credits was altered to facilitate the exports, but now an inquiry was on in the whole matter, he said.

Responding to a related supplementary, the Finance Minister said that it was not correct to say that the Food Corporation of India had been sidelined in the procurement of food grains.''FCI is the most important instrument for this purpose,'' he added.

Mr Chidamabaram said that it was true that the Corporation could procure only nine million tonnes of wheat last year, but this year a much larger quantity will be procured.

UNI