Suspicion that 2,500 tons of ration rice was smuggled in three months; trafficking gangs active again

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Civil Supplies Vigilance Department suspects that at least 2,500 tonnes of ration rice has been smuggled into the black market in the last three months. The Food Department has decided to conduct a centralized inspection of all NFSI godowns and ration shops under the control of Civil Supplies.

The vigilance department secretly collected information from all the godowns in the state after finding that 94.3 tonnes of rice was smuggled from the godown in Konni, 10 tonnes of rice from Pettimudi in Devikulam and 30 sacks of rice from Tirunelli. Although most of the 83 godowns are functioning well, it has been found that rice reaches the black market through middlemen with the help of employees from some godowns.

Rice was smuggled from Konni to Changanassery.

10 tonnes of rice were smuggled from the ration to be given to the tribals of Edamalakkudy. The ration kept in a private shop in Tirunelli was seized under the leadership of Vijayalakshmi, a member of the Food Safety Commission.

Following the instructions of the vigilance department, the Public Distribution Commissioner has instructed the officials to take measures including weighing the goods received by the card holders from the ration shops.

Action limited to departmental level

Even if rice smuggling is found, only departmental action is taken against officials. The police do not proceed with the case. An employee was suspended for smuggling rice from Konni. Two people were transferred. Two people have been removed from duty for rice smuggling in Edamalakkudy. This is the action.

Identify ration rice

No matter how the ration rice is transformed to be sold in the open market, it can be detected by expert inspection. Ration rice is fortified. Market rice is not like that. The ration rice found in the store in Tirunelli was found to be fortified after testing. Such tests are not conducted statewide.