3,000 bags of paddy, rice seized in Barnala

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

In a late-night operation in Barnala, the Punjab Food Supply Department’s Vigilance team caught six trucks transporting paddy and rice illegally from other states. The rice and paddy was meant to be illegally sold in Punjab’s mandis.

In a press release, Bharat Bhusan Ashu, Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister, said the tally of total seizures had reached to 5.03 lakh bags in the ongoing kharif marketing season.

He said 3,000 bags of paddy and rice were seized in Barnala. Five trucks were transporting paddy and one truck was carrying rice.

He said the trucks belonged to a trader from Barnala who brought paddy and rice at a low price from other states on the name of two fictitious firms — Star Agro and Kisan Trading Company — and sold them to millers of Punjab and also to arhtiyas for further sale in state mandis at the MSP (minimum support price).

An FIR has been lodged at the Dhanaula police station in the district against these firms for bringing and selling unaccounted paddy and rice in Punjab from other states. Such firms do not even pay market committee fees as on the inter-state border they present bill and market committee fees has to be paid at the destination. But since the firms are fictitious, they never report the sale or purchase of paddy or rice at the destination.