Jyotipriyo Mallick had apparently ignored several red flags raised by the Centre over the distribution of foodgrains during the Covid-19 pandemic when he was Bengal food and supplies minister, a source in the state food and supplies department said.

The Union government had apparently informed the state government at least three times in 2020 that there was a serious flaw in the process of distribution of foodgrains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana as beneficiaries were getting foodgrains lesser than the specified quantities, said the source.

The Centre had supplied 5kg of free foodgrains each to nearly six crore beneficiaries in the state every month during the nationwide lockdown. The scheme was later extended till mid-2021.

“The then joint secretary of the Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, S. Jagannathan, had written letters to the food and supplies secretary in the state that the beneficiaries were not getting enough food grains according to their entitlement. The then governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar, had also raised questions about the irregularities in the public distribution system during the pandemic. But nothing was done by the food and supplies department,” said a senior official.

According to sources, after the Centre’s letters had come, the state food and supplies department showcaused 359 ration dealers, mainly in North-24 Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad districts. “But no stern action was taken against anybody.... It appeared the department did not want to dig deep into the complaints,” said a bureaucrat.

The sources said although the department was getting clear hints that the complaints were genuine in most of the cases as people were agitating against the ration shops in several areas, it surprisingly did not conduct any inquiry against any of the ration dealers.

“People had ransacked ration shops at Baduria in North 24 Parganas, Kakdwip in South 24-Parganas and Jalangi in Murshidabad, alleging they were not getting food grains according to their entitlement.... Several other agitations were held by beneficiaries during that period, but nothing was done on the part of the department,” said a bureaucrat.

Sources in the food and supplies department suspect the department remained silent on the issue under instructions from the then minister Mallick.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials have linked Mallick’s inaction to his alleged proximity with Bakibur Rahman, a rice mill owner who had already been arrested by the agency.

“Many in the department suspect some ration shop owners, particularly those in North 24-Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad, used to send a portion of foodgrains to the mill owned by Bakibur.... From the mill, the foodgrains were either sent to the open market or smuggled into neighbouring countries like Bangladesh,” said a source.

It is also alleged that the spoils from those irregularities reached politicians as well as some administrative officials.

Food department officials said the minister should have taken steps when the beneficiaries were staging demonstrations alleging that they were getting lesser and inferior quality foodgrains.

“Particularly, steps should have been taken when the Centre pointed out that there were grievances that beneficiaries were not getting foodgrains according to their entitlement,” said a source.