Wheat from Brazil consumable: Food dept tells High Court

The wheat imported from Brazil is consumable for human, the Directorate General of Food told the High Court.

It filed the report on Sunday according to previous order after a petition was filed over the matter.

Bangladesh imported 200,000 tonnes of wheat worth Tk 4 billion from Brazil and a recent report ran by a daily says it was “rotten and inconsumable.”

A petition was filed with the High Court seeking a probe on the matter, when the bench of justices Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman ordered the government to clarify whether the wheat was suitable for human consumption.

On Sunday, the state submitted the report by the Directorate General of Food chief to the court, which set July 8 for the next day for hearing the matter.

Deputy Attorney General Tapash Kumar Biswas argued for the state while Mahbub Uddin Khokon stood for the petitioner.

“The Directorate General of Food claims the wheat is consumable, but findings of other orgnasiations say it’s rotten and sub-standard.

“It seems that the food department’s claim is not right. The court has set July 8 as more time was sought,” Khokon told bdnews24.com.

On Jun 29, Pavel Miah, a lawyer, filed the petition using information available in newspaper reports.

He demanded the wheat be tested by the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) and Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute.

He also pleaded for a probe by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to see if the wheat was ‘below standard’.

The Food Ministry and the Directorate General of Food were playing ‘hide and seek’ with 200,000 tonnes of ‘rotten wheat’ bought with Tk 4 bn from Brazil, a newspaper recently reported.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered a probe committee be formed but that has not yet happened.

The wheat, the report said, was being distributed among police, Border Guard Bangladesh, Ansar, the prisons, dealers and flour mills and also for Test Relief and  Food for Work (Kabikha) programmes.

Critics demanded that Food Minister Qamrul Islam resign over the 'bad wheat', but he presented two reports to prove the wheat was of good quality.

“The wheat is perfectly fine. The tests done by the Directorate General of Food and science laboratory (Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) have made it clear," he had said.