CA Chair Nembang assures action in rotten rice case

KATHMANDU, JUN 24

Constituent Assembly (CA) Chairman Subhash Chandra Nembang said on Tuesday that he would make sure that action is taken against the people involved in distributing rotten rice under the banner of the World Food Programme (WFP).

The CA has started an investigation into the issue through a parliamentary probe committee formed under the Disaster Management Committee, Nembang told a delegation consisting of consumer rights activists and representatives of the National Human Rights Commission.

“It is a serious matter that rotten rice was given to earthquake victims,” said Nembang. He added that since this was a diplomatic issue, he would hold discussions with high level officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before forming a conclusion.

The sacks of grain distributed to quake victims in Gorkha contained lumps of rice that had turned black. Likewise, tonnes of pulses unfit for consumption were found in a WFP warehouse in Nepalgunj. The WFP had distributed the rice in Laprak VDC under the coordination of Save the Children and the Red Cross.

Of the 417 sacks of rice dispatched to Laprak for distribution to quake victims, 102 were reported to be of poor quality. After the shipment of rotten rice was exposed, locals returned the relief food they had been given.

Last week, the Prime Minister’s Office had directed the government to distribute food aid received from various countries and institutions only after conducting proper laboratory tests following complaints of quake victims falling sick after consuming such products.

Jyoti Baniya, president of the Consumers’ Welfare Protection Forum, blamed the government’s weak monitoring for the incident. “It is also the result of traders taking to selling substandard products and black marketing in the aftermath of the earthquake,” he said.

This is not the first time that rice distributed by the WFP was found to be of bad quality. Last month, the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) had seized a number of sacks of poor quality rice from Kavrepalanchok which were intended for distribution to earthquake victims.

Meanwhile, the DFTQC said they were unable to take action against the WFP which is under the United Nations Development Programme. “We do not have laws to take action against such a body,” said the department’s spokesperson Purna Chandra Wasti. According to him, the issue has to be addressed at the diplomatic level.

Wasti said they were keeping a close watch on the rice being distributed by the WFP after a number of cases of inferior grain were revealed. “We have warned WFP officials not to repeat the mistake in the future,” he said.

Source: The Kathmandu Post