Rice mills under scanner after seizure of unaccounted rice

Jaswant Shetra

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 4

The Food and Civil Supplies Department authorities have increased vigil on rice mills in the state following the seizure of unaccounted rice from some rice mills in Punjab in the past some days. The rice mills have been under the scanner of the vigilance staff of the department after the seizure of unaccounted rice.

According to sources in the Food and Civil Supplies Department, unaccounted rice might be stored in some other rice mills so the department officials have been planning more raids on rice mills in coming days. However, the drive launched by the authorities to unearth unaccounted rice has spread a feeling of panic among the rice mill owners.

It is pertinent to mention that the vigilance staff had seized thousands of bags of unaccounted rice from different rice mills in Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Earlier, the authorities had seized more than one lakh bags of unaccounted rice from some rice mills in Zira, Ferozepur, Jalalabad and Moga. The authorities claim that unaccounted rice seized from rice mills owes its origin to the Public Distribution System (PDS) of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which indicates towards a huge scam.

Though the state government has been keeping a strict vigil on godowns and mills, it has been found that people involved in wrongdoings have made a clever change in the modus operandi. Instead of keeping the stock in godowns, they now chose to offload the illegally procured rice in the crude cattle sheds and other such places in the villages. Such a case was unearthed at Ranipur village, near Phagwara, where 750 bags of rice were found stored in an animal shed some time back.

Fearing it to be the tip of the iceberg, the authorities said the recovery of thousands of bags belonging to the Public Distribution System was a clear indicator that it was not a small game. A similar scam was unearthed in Haryana some time ago and it is apprehended that it is a big inter-state racket with nexus going deep into the procurement and distribution system of the country.

Expressing concern over the seizure, Food and Civil Supplies Minister (Punjab) Bharat Bhushan Ashu have warned the rice millers not to indulge in this illegal practice. “Had the rice miller not been caught, the same rice would have been recycled into the current marketing system. The recycling of previous year’s rice for poor into the procurement mainstream is not just a deplorable act on humane grounds, but it is also an economic loss to the state exchequer,” said the Food and Civil Supplies Minister.

He also instructed the authorities of the Food and Civil Supplies Department to maintaining a complete vigil against such attempts.

Fact file

• Earlier, the authorities had seized more than one lakh bags of unaccounted rice from some mills in Zira, Ferozepur, Jalalabad and Moga.

• The authorities claim that unaccounted rice seized from mills owes its origin to the Public Distribution System (PDS) of states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which indicates a huge scam.

Modus operandi changed

Instead of keeping the stock in godowns, people involved in wrongdoings now chose to offload the illegally procured rice in the crude cattle sheds and other such places in the villages. Such a case was unearthed at Ranipur village, near Phagwara, where 750 bags of rice were found stored in an animal shed some time ago.