(a) whether cases of proxy labour have been detected in various depots of Food Corporation of India (FCI) during the last three years;
(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the financial losses incurred by FCI during the above period, depot-wise;
(c) whether any enquiry has been conducted in this regard; and
(d) if so, the outcome and details thereof alongwith the action taken against the erring officials?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION ( SHRI SHARAD PAWAR )
(a), (b), (c) & (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF THE STARRED QUESTION NO. 322 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 18-4-2005 IN THE LOK SABHA.
(a), (b) , (c) & (d): Yes Sir. One case each of proxy labour was detected in the FCI Srirampur depot in Manmad district in Maharashtra and in the FCI Sirsa depot in Haryana during the last three years. The case in Srirampur was detected on 14th May 2004, while the case in Sirsa depot was detected on 30th July 2004. In another case, a complaint of proxy labour was also received from the Debgram depot of Siliguri district in West Bengal, which was subsequently on investigation not established.
The possibility of proxy labour is limited only to the thirty percent FCI depots where there is FCI`s own departmental/Direct Payment System (DPS) labour. As a consequence to administrative inquiries, necessary disciplinary action was taken against the erring labour found indulging in this practice.