PDS rice being fraudulently diverted and exported through Kakinada anchorage port

Ration rice for the Public Distribution System (PDS) is being fraudulently diverted and exported to other countries through the Kakinada Anchorage Port in what appears to be a huge racket in AP. This was announced by the district collector Shan Mohan at a media meet here on Friday after testing the samples of seized rice in government laboratories. He said civil supplies officials led by the joint collector conducted raids on 119 rice mills and 76 warehouse complexes in the last 15 days. They seized 51,427 metric tonnes of rice worth Rs 215 crore. Of these, 12,184 metric tonnes of rice was found to have been PDS rice recycled for commercial use. Reports are awaited for another 11,000 tonnes of seized PDS rice.

The government mixes nutritious kernels with the rice meant for PDS distribution with the aim of ensuring a healthy diet to the people in the lower strata of the society. Because of the presence of kernels in the seized PDS rice, as was found in the lab tests, it was concluded that these were fraudulently diverted from the PDS system by racketeers. The collector noted that PDS rice is being sold in a chain process from ration shops and traders/middlemen to exporters who would commercially market this in other countries. The rackets could make huge money in a fraudulent manner.

The collector said traders who are involved in the chain system are being identified and cases booked against them. “We conduct raids not only when officials receive such information. Surprise raids are also conducted on a random basis to prevent the PDS recycling process.” He said that to curb the illegal exports of PDS rice and other material meant for the poor on a subsidised basis, a special vigilance force with the coordination of eight departments like port, customs, police, civil supplies etc has been formed. Special teams would check the rice at the entrance of anchorage port and the main roads.

Joint collector Ramsundar Reddy said 13 special counters have been set up at Kakinada, Pithapuram, Gollaprolu, Kathipudi and Tuni as part of governmental efforts to control the prices of essential commodities. The red gram dal was being sold at Rs 160 per kilo, steamed rice at Rs 49 and raw rice at Rs 48 to consumers. Special steps are being taken for stabilization of prices of vegetables that have been unduly hiked, by comparing the supply and demand basis. District civil supplies officer MV Prasad, district manager Bala Saraswathi and others were present.

This article has been republished from The Deccan Chronicle.