Hyderabad: A Vigilance and Enforcement department probe has uncovered an organised scam in the Telangana State public distribution system, whereby rice meant for the poor in the state is being smuggled out to West Africa via Kakinada port.
Warangal Regional Vigilance and Enforcement officer Mr V. Surender Reddy said, "In the most recent case, on October 23, 2016, we seized three truck loads at Dornakal containing Rs 44.5 lakh worth of PDS rice bound for Kakinada port, which was ultimately destined to reach West Africa.
The consignment for which the way bill was given by the commercial tax department originated from Sai Krupa Traders of Janagoan to Sarala Foods Private Limited in Kakinada, a government rated exporting house.
Since April this year, around 46 cases have been booked in Warangal and Khammam region alone and Rs 2.8 crore worth of rice has been seized," officials said.
It has been estimated that the PDS rice scam is worth hundreds of crores as loads of lorries are diverted to Kakinada port, particularly from erstwhile Khammam, Warangal and Nalgonda districts.
Those who are meant to benefit from the PDS scheme by getting cheap rice are taking it from PDS shops, but are not consuming the rice and instead selling it to dealers and traders.
According to Vigilance and Enforcement director, Mr Elusing Meru, in September 2016, 36 cases were booked across Telangana for cheating under 420 IPC and provisions of the Essential Commodities Act.
TS Commissioner of Civil Supplies Mr C V Anand claims that "the rate of PDS rice diversion is slowly coming down. Several loads of PDS rice goes out of the country via ports, particularly to African countries which are rain deficient and produce little. The rice is sold at Rs 35 to Rs 40 per kilo, which is pretty cheap for them."
Director of the Rs 100 crore Kakinada based Sarala Food Private Limited, Mr Vinod Kumar Agarwal, says Sarala Foods procures rice from millers “and we don’t know if they fine polish the rice and sell it to us.
“Regarding procurement, we have been buying from Sai Krupa Traders but we don't know what rice they are transporting till it reaches us. Usually we procure through brokers. We reject if we find it is PDS rice. We will never buy PDS rice. Only after surveyor okays it and it passes quality test do we buy any rice. We have rejected rice on several occasions.” He says his company is doing crores of rupees of business.
