RailEnquiry

Imphal : Asserting that the Food Corporation of India, Dimapur does not work for the interest of any particular party but work for stocking of sufficient foodgrains/sugar for the people of Manipur and Nagaland, General Manager of FCI, Nagaland and Manipur Region has stated that the question of writing to the railway authority to stop transportation of PDS items till Jiribam does not arise.Responding to the reports published in The Sangai Express on May 31 and June 1, the General Manager in a written clarification said that railway authority is requested to place rake as per the requirements submitted by the Regional office after taking into consideration the requirements of the State.The railway in fact had placed more rakes than the indented requirements, said the GM and added that this led to a large number of trucks having to wait for unloading at the FSD Sangaiprou the FSD Sangaiprou and Koirengei, inconveniencing the public, particularly residing in and around the godown."Therefore the question of writing to the Railway to authority to stop transportation of PDS items till Jiribam does not arise," asserted the GM.Refuting the report that the Railway has stopped transportation of goods by train for the last 12 days, the GM said that 22 wagons of rice was unloaded at FSD, Jiribam as on May 28 .The GM also strongly refuted the report that a letter was written to the Railways by the Regional Office, Dimapur, in cahoots with some Dimapur based traders and some other elements and dubbed it as unwarranted and baseless.

Giving details, the GM said that the movement programme from Dimapur to Sangaiprou and from Jiribam to Sangaiprou is prepared by the Regional Office taking into consideration certain points.

The points include requirement of the State (eg Manipur), availability of storage space at the receiving end and number of trucks/goods in transit etc.

According to the terms and conditions governing contracts for transportation of foodgrains, the GMK said that under Section XIII (a) the contractor shall be responsible to supply adequate and sufficient number of trucks for transportation of food grains and carrying out any services under the contract in accordance with the instructions issued by the General Manager (Region) or an officer on his behalf.

Under Section XVI (a) of Volume of Work, it is mentioned, "Subject herein after mentioned the Corporation does not guarantee any definite volume of work or any particular pattern of service, any time, or through out the period of contract.

The mere mention of any item of work in this contract does not by itself confer a right and/or conform any rights to the contractor to demand that the work relating to all or any item thereof should necessarily or exclusively be entrusted to him," said the GM.

The GM further said that the Corporation has the exclusive right to appoint one or more contractors for any of all the services and to divide the work between such contractors in any manner that the Corporation may decide and no claim shall lie against the Corporation by reason of such division of work.

To underline the point that the FCI has been taking up the right effort to make available sufficient foodgrains/sugar in Manipur, the GM said gave a detailed account of the foodstock available at the FCI godown at Sagaiprou, Jiribam, Ukhrul, Koirengei and Dimapur as on May 30 .