Thiruvananthapuram: Various places in Neyyattinkara taluk have become centres for pilferage from Public Distribution System (PDS) due to the area’s proximity with Tamil Nadu making it easy for smuggling rice meant for the BPL category from that state into Kerala.
The modus operandi of those behind illegal godowns in the taluk is to convert rice diverted from the PDS to high-quality grain using a chemical process using machines.
All-India Ration Dealers Association general secretary Babychen Mukkadan told Deccan Chronicle that though the vigilance wing of the civil supplies department registers cases of pilferage, they are seldom reported to the police. As a result, no inquiry is being conducted into the sources of pilferage, Mr Mukkadan said.
At present, only civil cases are being registered. This meant that the accused could walk free after paying a small fine.
The vigilance wing of the civil supplies department had confiscated 750 quintals of ration articles in a raid on an illegal godown in Maranalloor on Wednesday.
The confiscated articles were later transferred to a ration wholesale dealer. Sources said that officials were trying to hush up the case saying that they could not identify the owner of the godown.
Sources said that five truckloads of ration rice and one load of ration wheat and a Rs2-crore machine meant for converting the grains to high-quality produce were confiscated from a godown at Pooovar in June.
Earlier last year, the police had recovered 1,028 sacks of ration rice from the same godown. However, both cases were hushed up allegedly following high-level intervention, the sources said.
