CM’s flying squad conducts raids at Karnal rice mills

The officials said that during the raid, the police teams had detected rice meant for public distribution system (PDS) hidden under the bags of paddy and the inspection of the stock and record was still going on

: A team of the chief minister’s flying squad on Friday conducted raids at various rice mills and grain markets in Assandh town of Karnal, three days after it detected a paddy procurement scam of around 75,095 quintals involving four rice millers in the district.

CM’s flying squad conducts raids at Karnal rice mills

Even as the raids were still underway and officials associated with it did not disclose the anomalies yet, it is learnt that discrepancies in the record and stock of mills have been found. The team even recovered a huge quantity of rice of which the mill owners could not produce any record. The rice was packed in sugar bags and hid under the heaps of paddy bags, reveal officials associated with the raid.

As per information, the flying squad raided BG Overseas, Shri Ram Rice Mill, Radhe Radhe Rice Mill and Green Valley rice mill.

The officials said that during the physical verification of the paddy stock, the police teams had detected rice meant for public distribution system (PDS) hidden under the bags of paddy and the inspection of the stock and record was still going on.

This is the second such raid in the district in past three days as the chief minister’s flying squad had on October 11 detected a paddy procurement scam of 75,095 quintals involving three rice-millers. The secretary of the Jhundla grain market has been suspended and a departmental inquiry has been ordered in the case.

The next day, a team of Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board detected 14,526 bags or 7,263 quintals of rice meant for public distribution during the raid as the millers failed to provide the source of the rice.

Also, 1,424 bags of PDS rice were recovered from a rice mill during the raid of CM’s flying squad and the officials claimed that owners of the mill failed to produce any document related to the rice. The raid has exposed a nexus of government officials and rice millers as the officials claimed that bogus gate passes were procured to reveal paddy procurement.

The matter came to light following the complaints that fake gate passes were generated for proxy procurement in Jhundla and Assandh.

According to the authorities, the rice mill was deputed for the procurement of paddy for government agencies and they have procured rice meant for public distribution at cheaper rates illegally to return it to the government under the custom milled rice policy. ENDS