Two owners of a transportation company were booked for selling food grains allocated for 20,000 Below Poverty Line (BPL) families under Public distribution System and Pradhanmantri Gareeb Kalyan Ann Yojna in a market in Gwalior, said police.
An FIR was registered against Munna Lal Agrawal and Rahul Agrawal under section 407 (criminal breach of trust by carriers) of the India Penal Code and under section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act (selling essential commodities without permission of authorities) in Gwalior, said Pankaj Tyagi, town inspector Jhansi Road police station. No arrest has been made so far.
The irregularity came to light in a report of food civil supplies and consumer protection (FCS&CP) department.
“The extra ration has been allocated for BPL families due to lockdown which was imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19. The transporters had taken food grains from the warehouses of the department but hadn’t delivered to the ration shops,” said Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, principal secretary, FCS & CP.
“The ration shopkeepers, who have to generate receipts online after delivery of the food grains, hadn’t been generating the receipts since April. The department officers inquired in the matter and found out that the shopkeepers didn’t receive the food grains. Department’s additional director Harendra Sing held an inquiry in the matter and it was revealed that the transporters had sold the ration of poor people in the local market on December 17,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“The ration shopkeepers, who have to generate receipts online after delivery of the food grains, hadn’t been generating the receipts since April. The department officers inquired in the matter and found out that the shopkeepers didn’t receive the food grains. Department’s additional director Harendra Sing held an inquiry in the matter and it was revealed that the transporters had sold the ration of poor people in the local market on December 17,” he added.
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Gwalior, Superintendent of Police Amit Sanghi said, “About 7,000 quintals of wheat, rice, pulses, sugar salt and other items worth Rs 3.07 crore have allocated for about 1 lakh poor people was illegally sold in the market from April to November. The FIR has been registered against the transporters. We are trying to nab them. We have also written to the district collector to invoke the National Security Act against them”.
District collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh said, “I have asked the police to share all the details of the case and the report of FCS&CP. The decision of invoking NSA will be taken after the inquiry.”