By IANS
Mumbai : The Maharashtra government will immediately stop distribution and sale of inferior quality imported Australian red wheat through official distribution channels to poor people and tribals.
Secretary of civil supplies department K.P. Bakshi gave an assurance to this effect to the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC).
The imported wheat has been at the centre of a controversy between the state government and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the past few months.
Mumbai BJP leader and former Member of Parliament Kirit Somaiya had filed a petition before the MSHRC, challenging the quality of the imported red wheat.
The MSHRC chairman, Justice K. Vyas, questioned the state government on the quality of the wheat supplied to the poor.
According to Somaiya, the MSHRC had sent 10 samples for testing in government laboratories.
“All the tests found the samples unfit for human consumption,” a victorious Somaiya told IANS Wednesday.
The samples had a high content of uric acid, bacteria, presence of live and dead insects and black mud, he said, quoting the report.
“The samples of wheat do not conform to the standards of wheat PFA Rule of 1955 and are unfit for human consumption,” said the report, which was submitted as evidence before the MSHRC hearing.
Since over two months, Somaiya had campaigned vigorously against the suspect red wheat, which was being distributed for mass consumption at cheap rates, mainly among the poor and tribals in the state under various official schemes.
The state government has also assured that only locally produced and high-quality white wheat will be distributed through public channels after conducting proper checks and tests.