As mostly rice is being distributed from FP shops in the city and the districts, the cases of illegal PDS rice procurement and transportation has gone haywire especially in Rajendranagar area under Rangareddy district.
The intensity of the infringement could be scaled with the number of incidents that happened during the last 15 days wherein civil supplies officials were seen on their toes to seize the vehicles full of PDS rice one after another.
There were nearly 11 such cases in which the civil supply authorities pulled over the vehicles full of PDS rice while they were marking on their way to their undisclosed destinations from different areas of the city.
According to officials, a total 11 (6-A) cases have been booked during the last 15 days that saw confiscation of 334.45 quintals of PDS rice in Saroornagar Circle under Rangereddy district.
According to Assistant Civil Supply Officer Saroornagar Circle Balasaroja, “Between September 15 to October 8, a total number of 11 cases of infringement have been booked confiscating a total 334.45 quintals of PDS rice being illegally transported from different areas. Fine to the tune of Rs.4,67,600 has been imposed beside booking cases during the same period.”
“There were lots of companies especially in the Kattedan area under Mailardevpally from where the PDS rice frequently marked into markets through different routes. As the areas considered as sensitive due to their illegal nature of trade and the people harbored there, we cannot penetrate into such a volatile area without the support of vigilance teams. We count on tipping off from inside to square off the activities before pulling over the vehicles,” She explained.
It is said that most of the illegal trade of PDS rice that is marked into the shady markets, is coming through the way of the Kattedan area where most of the companies are existing and the rice being purchased from poor people is being accumulated only to transport it to other neighbouring states.
People, mostly from slum areas of Rajendranagar, sell out the rice they bought free of cost from the local fare price shops, to illegal rice traders at a price of Rs.6 to Rs.8 per kilo. The illegal traders of PDS rice, on the other hand, would transport the rice being purchased from poor people, transport it to Karnataka and Maharashtra where the grain fetch them higher rates.