Kalaburagi: In a major crackdown on the hoarders of pulses, the district administration has seized pulses, mainly the red gram, worth over Rs 43 crore which was stored illegally in the state owned warehouses here during the last two days.
The district administration has stepped up raids and inspections on the red gram mills, godowns, and also the premises of wholesale traders and kirana merchants, following directions from the state government.
The state government was reprimanded by the Centre for not taking action against hoarders, resulting in huge price rise. The district administration had constituted eight teams, led by assistant commissioners and tahasildars, and carried out inspections during the last couple of days.
According to the Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies A.T. Jayappa, the teams on Thursday raided unit-I of the state warehouse at the Kapnur Industrial Area here and seized 37,900 quintals of pulses, worth over Rs 30 crore, stored illegally by the traders.
Similarly on Friday they raided unit-II of the state warehouse and seized 15,414 quintals of pulses, worth around Rs 13 crore. According to Mr Jayappa, these pulses had been stored illegally by 375 hoarders in godowns since January-February, thereby creating an artificial shortage in the market.
“Only farmers are supposed to stock their produce in the warehouse. But these traders had taken the land records of farmers and stocked them in the names of farmers,” Jayappa stated, adding that cases will be booked against these traders and the pulses seized would be released into the open market.
