SC to hear PIL on wheat import next week

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) The Supreme Court will hear on May 17 a PIL seeking directions to the Union agriculture ministry not to go ahead with the import of wheat till the final disposal of the present writ peition.

In a petition filed by social activist Vandana Shiva which came up for hearing today before a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices R V Ravindaran and D K Jain prayed for preponing the hearing of the case as the government was supposed to import wheat soon, thereby causing a loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer.

According to the petitioner government was going to import contaminated and sub-standard wheat at an exorbitant rate of Rs 1680 per quintal while a better quality wheat was available in the Indian market in the range of Rs 800-1000 per quintal.

The petitioner also sought directions to ban Multi National Companies (MNCs) and big traders from buying wheat directly from farmers.

The petitioner alleged that artificial scarcity is being created by MNCs and giant traders to make huge profits by selling the wheat at spiralling prices and as such there was no need to import wheat.

Food Corporation of India is deliberately not buying sufficient stock from farmers to create a buffer stock and the government has not explained till date where the wheat puchased from farmers has gone, she alleged.

The petitioner also mentioned that Rabi production for the year 2006-2007 was 73.6 million tonnes as against 73 million tonnes for the preceeding year, which is more than the total consumption of wheat in the country.

The petitioner also prayed before the court that MNCs and traders should also purchase the produce from mandis instead of buying it directly from the farmers.

The fresh affidavit filed by the petitioner yesterday also says that there is no need of importing one million tonnes of sub-standard wheat and diluting the health standards of the people.

Ms Shiva also requested before the court to quash the amendemnts in the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees Act (APMC) act for food security for India.

The petitioner also alleged that artificial scarcity has been created through hoarding and other malpractices.

UNI