The SupplyCo started in 1974 to bring relief to the poor through market inference had grown up a lot. It could also bring succour to a lot of families during the times of price rise. Instead of conquering new heights along with its growth, the SupplyCo began to appear in the news for all the bad reasons.

For the past several years, the Corporation has been notorious for corruption, embezzlement of fund and pilferage of commodities.

Its reputation also got dented as irregularities and fraud manifested on all sections from top to bottom of the organisation.
It looked as if, those at key positions and those coming to the Centre on deputation vied with one another for incurring as much losses as they could to the SupplyCo. As the government was there to make up for the losses, the cheating went on unbridled.

In a recent inspection carried out by the Food department in the Secretariat, it was found that there was an embezzlement of SypplyCo fund to the tune of Rs 82 crore.

23 employees were expelled for committing irregularity and Vigilance inquiry is going on against 33 employees. There are also cases against 122 retired staff. The fine to be extracted from accused employees is Rs 1.75 crore.

The investigation team’s report had said that inefficacy of the Vigilance was reason for the anomaly in the SupplyCo. SupplyCo is vulnerable to irregularity and loot on all fronts. The government had stopped normal tendering following complaints of corruption and the purchase started through e-tendering. Even in this procedure, there are some loopholes.

In the beginning people used to get commodities at a subsidised price, which was much less than the market price. But this condition changed over the past few years.

Only a few commodities are now included in the subsidy list. Hence rush of customers are witnessed only during festive seasons as the government come with big subsidies during this time.

Though SupplyCo was formed to make commodities available to the public at subsidised price perennially, it was not to be. The competition it faced from other private markets also affected its business. If the SupplyCo is not ready to change its style of functioning and approach according to the changing times, the situation will become even worse than this.

The vicious act of a portion of SupplyCo staff comprising more than 4500 persons is to blame for the present crisis of the Corporation.

There was a time when SupplyCo was viewed with awe by people from other states. For lakhs of people, it is their wish to see SupplyCo in its old glory and growing bigger and richer. This will only become possible with the strong inference of the Food department. Ways should be sought to resolve the flaws found during the recent investigation, indefinitely.

In the investigation report submitted to the government, the need for strengthening the Vigilance has been underlined.
Officers included in the Vigilance team should be honest and those who will not succumb to corruption

In the Corporation, there may be many people who think that whatever loss happens to a government institution, it will survive. But it should not be forgotten that it is the taxpayers’ money that is being lost in corruption. The government should show no delay in convincing the staff that the place of fraudsters and looters are out.