The High Court has asked the authorities concerned to clarify whether the wheat, which was imported from Brazil for Tk4 billion, is suitable for human consumption.
A High Court bench comprising of Justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Taher Md Saifur Rahman passed the order Tuesday, responding to a writ petition.
The court asked the secretary for Food and director general of food to inform it about the quality of the imported wheat in the next 72 hours.
The HC also fixed July 5 for holding further hearing over the issue.
A lawyer, Pavel Mia, Monday filed the petition on the basis of reports in a number of national dailies.
In his petition, he sought the High Court’s directive in testing the “rotten wheat” at the labs of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute.
He also demanded a probe by Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in this regard.
Recently, media reports said that around 200,000 tonnes of the wheat imported from Brazil and supplied by Singapore-based contractor Olam International was of substandard quality.
Later, a couple of studies read that the wheat imported from the South American country in February and March is of sub-standard quality and a significant volume is found to be rotten.
One of those studies was conducted by the Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) and the other by the laboratory at the Directorate General of Food – both arranged by the government.
The food directorate study found that six out of the 30 tested samples of the Brazilian wheat were partly rotten. The samples were collected from 30 different districts through the office of the local deputy commissioners.
The wheat samples collected from Magura, Patuakhali, Sherpur, Bogra, Sirajganj and Joypurhat district were partly rotten. “There are living insects in the samples and this [the wheat] could be distributed after controlling the insects in the proper way,” the study concluded.
The BCSIR test report, dated June 28, says: “All the supplied samples contained higher amount of shrunken and broken kernels than the supplied specification.
The 10 specific parameters against which the wheat was tested by BCSIR were: test weight, heat damage kernels, damage kernels, presence of foreign materials, shrunken and broken kernels, contrasting classes, wheat of other classes, protein, moisture and dock age.
After news surfaced in the media about the rotten wheat import a few days ago, several political and rights organisations, including the main political opposition BNP, demanded Food Minister Kamrul’s resignation.
However, showing these study reports to journalists at a briefing on Sunday, Food Minister Kamrul Islam claimed that there is nothing wrong with the imported grains.
Earlier, the minister said the government has cancelled the order of wheat from Brazil due to its poor quality.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
