The New Nation - Internet Edition

Chittagong Correspondent

The dumping of about 400 tonnes of rice worth about Tk 20 crore at a place near the Chittagong port on the ground of being unfit for consumption has raised a lot of controversy in different circles.

Officials of the joint forces here in the port city claimed that there was a good quantity of consumable rice that has been dumped.

The officials of the food department, however, declared the rice unfit for human consumption after necessary examination and approved the dumping of the rice which was donated by Pakistan in aid of the Sidr victims.

Troops have b een deployed at the dumping site located near the landfill of Chittagong port to prevent people from collecting the dumped rice. They also stopped the dumping move and asked for re-examination of its actual quality.

Officials of the joint forces at the port city claimed there is a good quantity of consumable rice in the lot that has been dumped as being unfit for consumption.

The dumping site has been cordoned and the relevant authorities have been asked not to dump rotten rice at unrestricted spots anymore, said a security official.

Some of the poor who collected rice from the dumping site said they did not find it fully rotten.

People belonging to different tiers of society questioned the wisdom of dumping sizeable quantity of rice without proper examination of its quality at a time when its prices have shot up beyond the purchasing capacity of the poor.

Local sources said the customs people secured approval for destroying 74 containers of perishable from the special committee comprising officials from the directorate of food, Environment department, Chittagong City Corporation, Chittagong Customs House and Chittagong Port Authority.