The PDS rice scheme which was started for the benefit of the poor, thou-gh helping these sections to some extent, allows middlemen to misuse it.
The huge difference in price tag from Rs.100 per quintal of PDS price to Rs.1,850, the price which rice millers get from the FCI, is the main reason for this misuse.
Government spends more than Rs.15 crore per month as subsidy for the scheme in the district and 2,545 PDS shops distribute rice at Rs.1 per kilo, depending on the eligibility of each card holder. Though some attempts were made to weed out bogus cards, nothing concrete has emerged in the last few years.
According to reliable sources, PDS rice is being diverted to various other needs. PDS dealers purchase rice from card holders at Rs.7 to Rs.10 per kilo, depending on demand. Middlemen enter the scene and pay Rs.2 to Rs.3 more and send the stocks to various destinations.
Some times, card holders, after obtaining stocks from dealers, sell it through the provision store of their choice.
When contacted, the EG FCI area manager, Mr B. Ganeswara Rao, denied on Monday accepting recycled rice disbursed through the PDS as procurement rice from millers. “In the present year, we have been supplying rice procured during 2010, and in the present crop season, we have been accepting new rice of common variety which is the main crop now. We can clearly identify recycled rice,” he clarified.
