Ship with stale Indian rice sent to outer anchorage in Ctg

The ship, which was carrying sub-standard Indian rice, was finally sent to the outer anchorage of Chittagong Port soon after the food department had halted unloading the stale rice.

After sitting idle for two days, MV Dragon was sent to the outer anchorage from the port jetty on Sunday.

Under a Government to Government (G2g) process, Bangladesh imported some 19,200 metric tons of boiled rice from India to enhance Bangladesh’s food grain stock.

But the Chittagong Seaport authorities had stopped unloading Indian rice from the ship as a testing lab found it inconsumable on Wednesday.

On August 3, the MV Dragon had a berth to the jetty at the Chittagong Port with Indian rice to unload. Around 4,000 metric tons of rice were unloaded and sent to the food warehouses in different districts including Chattogram and Laxmipur. But, the officials concerned declined to accept this sub-standard rice.

Against such a backdrop, the food department on Thursday last stopped unloading the rice and arranged further tests. Chattogram regional food department on Saturday sent its reports, stating that a portion of the rice is substandard, which is a violation of the supply agreement.

Mohammad Omar Faruq, secretary of Chittagong Port Authority disclosed that after sitting idle for two days, MV Dragon loaded with Indian rice was sent to the outer anchorage on Sunday morning.

At the moment, the ship contains more than 15,000 metric tons of rice and now it is up to the food department to decide whether they will unload the remaining amount of rice or not, he added.

As per the rules, after the ship reaches the outer anchorage of Chittagong port, at the initiative of the food department including plant quarantine division of Agriculture Extension Department, samples were collected and tested in the laboratory.

After the result of the test is satisfactory, it has to be submitted to the Chittagong Custom House to go through the customs process. And, the rice is supposed to be unloaded at the end of the formalities.

Md Zahirul Islam, Regional Controller of Chattogram Food Division, said, “In the second sample test, as some portions of the rice were found not in accordance with the agreement, it was not be possible for us to receive the consignment.”

An amount of rice in the upper part of the ship was found good and was initially unloaded, he said, adding that, “The results of the ‍second sample test have already been sent to the Food Department to decide what to do with this consignment.

As per the rules there is no opportunity to receive the low quality rice. In the past too, such imported inedible rice was sent back to the importer, Zahirul added.

According to Ports and Food Department sources, apart from MV Dragon, three other ships loaded with rice purchased by the government are being unloaded at Chittagong Port. Of these, two came from India and one from Myanmar.