KOZHIKODE: The civil supplies officials on Saturday raided rice shops in Valiyangadi based on complaints of suspected attempts of hoarding and black marketing. Complaints on low quality rice have also been reported about the rice sold at the market. SKG Enterprises, a wholesale shop was seized by the officials for stocking 54 sacks of ration rice and 18 sacks of ration wheat grains. On the same day the officials also inspected and seized two other shops in the same lane and recovered 10 sacks of rice.
The civil supplies officials recovered nearly 40 sacks of rice, illegally procured by shop owners without recording it on the stock register. The officials said that they will also check records to verify if the seized rice was earlier supplied for distribution through ration shops in the district. The Taluk Civil Supplies officer M.V. Jayakumar said that this inspection is just the beginning and more investigation on hoarding and black marketing by these small scale traders will be dug out in the coming days.
The vigilance is also investigating into the issue, he further pointed out. The official also stated that more players are behind the hoarding and black marketing of government sanctioned ration products. It has been also reported that these traders source these rice with the support of the officials dealing with the ration distribution. Vigilance in the coming days will also conduct raids in these offices, he added.
