The only thing more outrageous than a godownful of rotting food grains in a country that can't afford to universalise the right to food, is the brazen onus-shirking of officials who are responsible for it.

Reports of over 2,000 quintals of rice rotting in the rains at a Food Corporation of India (FCI) godown in Maharashtra's Gondia district had spurred the government into action. The FCI sent a team of officials to inspect the godown. Area managers R Hemu, Suhash Padalkar and quality controller Sreedevi visited the godown but denied any loss, saying instead that they suspected "some conspiracy" behind it. As everyone knows, the monsoons have always been a cosmic conspiracy in India. The heavens in collusion with the Indian met department make sure that nobody knows when they would arrive and in what measure.

The depot manager, Sohanlal verma, was very candid about the fact that he was lying when he claimed that there had been no loss at the depot despite the broadcast news footage of the a waterlogged godown with grain-filled sacks soaking.

In view of the reports that there has been a huge loss of wheat kept at FCI godowns in the district, a team of officers had reached to inspect the 2,000 quintals of rice damaged in the rains.

"The FCI has received wheat stock from Haryana and Punjab following bumper crops and lack of storage places there. The wheat stocks arrived here between May 17 and June 8, but due to space crunch, the wheat sacks were kept outside as at that time, procurement of levi rice from local rice millers was on," Verma told PTI.

Presently, besides the 56,000 sacks of wheat, the FCI has a stock of 8,622 MT of parboiled rice and 678 MT of raw rice, Verma added.

Sure. Blame it on the farmers. How dare they harvest bumper crops!

Loss of a few kilogrammes during transit under permissible limits is understandable, but they are taking due care of the foodgrain, he said.

At present, shifting of foodgrains and its distribution is underway and has been stored in safe places, PTI quoted its sources as having said.

Meanwhile, area manager Padalkar said that it was all a conspiracy of the local traders' lobby to defame the FCI. We were left wondering if the FCI had any fame left to lose at the first place.