Kamal Nath Alleges MP Poor Receiving Adulterated Food, Locals Protest in Sagar District

Madhya Pradesh Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath said on Friday the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in the state is distributing adulterated salt among poor. Alleging the government is mixing sand in salt, Nath said the same government was earlier giving sub-standard rice through the public distribution system (PDS).

Following an uproar, officials collected samples of salts from the MP Warehousing and Logistics Corporation (MPWLC) during th day. When News18 visited the said warehouse, it found small black particles in salt packets being sold to BPL families at Re 1 per kg. The salt packets are supplied by a private company

Locals also staged a demonstration in front of a local tehsildar’s office in Sagar district over the matter. When salt was mixed with water in front of the official, sand-like particles were visible in the mixture. As locals got further infuriated, the tehsildar, Sanjay Jain, assured of sending the samples to a laboratory for tests and promised against the manufacturer if impurities are found in the salt.

In a series of tweets, Nath wrote, “After providing sub-standard rice through the PDS, is salt being given to poor under PDS impure? Sand in salt?”

Stating that such incidents have been reported from Sagar and Jabalpur, he said these instances are highly serious in nature and shameful. “In the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, everywhere there’s game of corruption, anomalies, scams and adulteration,” the former Chhindwara MP.

Nath demanded that such acts be stopped immediately and stringent punishment be meted out to the guilty.

The state BJP unit is yet to respond to the allegations.

The Managing Director of Civil Supplies Corporation Abhijit Agrawal said salt samples from Sagar and Tikamgarh will be tested. “We will only be able to comment on the quality, once the lab report is received,” said the officer.