03-29-2007, 03:38 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Dal thickens: Traders may have forged papers </b>
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Circumstantial evidence points to connivance with Ministry babus</span>
Exporters involved in the politically sensitive pulse scam are understood to have negotiated major supply contracts abroad after the Government's decision to impose export ban on June 22.
Subsequent to the ban, they manipulated necessary documents in alleged connivance with officials to ship huge quantities of dal out of the country.Â
Sources said that the Union Cabinet's June 22, 2006 decision to impose a ban on pulse exports was based on a note prepared by the Agriculture Ministry. The Ministry pressed for the ban on export in view of shortage of pulses and related escalation of their prices in the domestic market.
<b>After the Cabinet okayed the ban, the exporters lobbied with the Agriculture Ministry to extend the deadline of June 22, pleading that they were negotiating some major contracts. </b>However, sources said the Ministry refused to make any concession and clearly told them that in view of the lack of supply in domestic markets no further export could be allowed.
<b>Sources pointed out that on the basis of Letters of Credit opened before the coming of ban, the exporters reportedly clinched the contracts and executed the order on the basis of manipulated documents.</b>
Sources pointed out that export requires clearance at various levels and in case of ban on export of any commodity, the decision is immediately flashed to Customs authorities at different ports and airports. That raises the possibility that either the pulse consignments shipped out after June 22 were shown booked in advance or the exporters made false declarations about the goods.
However, what is baffling is the fact that the exporters continued to flout the ban for over eight months and even though the scam was in public domain, the Government looked the other way till the Association of Pulses Manufacturers-Exporters of India wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention in the matter.
Two things seem to be very clear in the case. First, the exporters continued negotiating and clinching fresh contracts after the ban was imposed. The fact that exports continued for so long after the ban, established this beyond reasonable doubt. "It is unlikely that they would be executing old orders for so long," an official said, adding that, "it showed their audacity and confidence that no one was going to touch them."
The Commerce Ministry may have asked for a CBI probe in the scam, but it is shocking that no one in the Government bothered to find out the reason for short supply of pulses in the domestic market after the ban was enforced.
"The rising price of pulses in the domestic market should have alerted the people who were monitoring the supply side," an official said.
<b>Secondly, the officials at various levels must have connived with them or else such a brazen violation of a Government order could not have gone unnoticed</b>.
<b>"And if there was no connivance then it is a very sad reflection on the functioning of the Government. Tomorrow someone could ship out nuclear materials and the Government would simply not know," </b>said an official. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Circumstantial evidence points to connivance with Ministry babus</span>
Exporters involved in the politically sensitive pulse scam are understood to have negotiated major supply contracts abroad after the Government's decision to impose export ban on June 22.
Subsequent to the ban, they manipulated necessary documents in alleged connivance with officials to ship huge quantities of dal out of the country.Â
Sources said that the Union Cabinet's June 22, 2006 decision to impose a ban on pulse exports was based on a note prepared by the Agriculture Ministry. The Ministry pressed for the ban on export in view of shortage of pulses and related escalation of their prices in the domestic market.
<b>After the Cabinet okayed the ban, the exporters lobbied with the Agriculture Ministry to extend the deadline of June 22, pleading that they were negotiating some major contracts. </b>However, sources said the Ministry refused to make any concession and clearly told them that in view of the lack of supply in domestic markets no further export could be allowed.
<b>Sources pointed out that on the basis of Letters of Credit opened before the coming of ban, the exporters reportedly clinched the contracts and executed the order on the basis of manipulated documents.</b>
Sources pointed out that export requires clearance at various levels and in case of ban on export of any commodity, the decision is immediately flashed to Customs authorities at different ports and airports. That raises the possibility that either the pulse consignments shipped out after June 22 were shown booked in advance or the exporters made false declarations about the goods.
However, what is baffling is the fact that the exporters continued to flout the ban for over eight months and even though the scam was in public domain, the Government looked the other way till the Association of Pulses Manufacturers-Exporters of India wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention in the matter.
Two things seem to be very clear in the case. First, the exporters continued negotiating and clinching fresh contracts after the ban was imposed. The fact that exports continued for so long after the ban, established this beyond reasonable doubt. "It is unlikely that they would be executing old orders for so long," an official said, adding that, "it showed their audacity and confidence that no one was going to touch them."
The Commerce Ministry may have asked for a CBI probe in the scam, but it is shocking that no one in the Government bothered to find out the reason for short supply of pulses in the domestic market after the ban was enforced.
"The rising price of pulses in the domestic market should have alerted the people who were monitoring the supply side," an official said.
<b>Secondly, the officials at various levels must have connived with them or else such a brazen violation of a Government order could not have gone unnoticed</b>.
<b>"And if there was no connivance then it is a very sad reflection on the functioning of the Government. Tomorrow someone could ship out nuclear materials and the Government would simply not know," </b>said an official. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->