Subsidy rice being smuggled out

Lax Security At Check Posts Makes It Easy (Times News Network)

Hyderabad: The Rs 2-a-kg rice is being diverted illegally on a large scale to neighbouring states including Maharashtra and Karnataka, especially from Prakasam, Nellore, Kurnool, Anantapur, Chittoor and Nizamabad districts.
The Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) wing, which was asked to check the distribution of subsidy rice in the state, has come up with startling revelations.
According to V&E sources, the subsidy rice is being diverted to other states through integrated check posts, especially from Tada check post on the border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Vigilance officials said the staff of the Tada integrated check post were issuing transit passes to lorries passing through the check post by taking just Rs 500 and without carrying any physical verification.
For instance, a rice miller of Nandyal in Kurnool district, Satyanarayana alias Satya, got transit passes from Tada without even taking his lorries to the check post. Several transit slips were issued in his name, sources said. The rice miller was transporting Rs 2-a-kg rice to Karnataka after purchasing it from ration shop dealers in the state.
Whenever a lorry or vehicle enters into the state from other states and then moves to other parts of country transporting goods, it has to take a transit pass from the check post authorities. They have to submit the same pass when they exit at other check posts, within 48 hours. The check post authorities have to carry out a physical check of the vehicle at the entry and exit points. But the check post staff, the V&E officials said, issue transit passes without any check.
The dealers are choosing Tamil Nadu-AP border check post as entry point as there are no restrictions on their movement.
The V&E investigations revealed that the Rs 2-a-kg rice is being filled in new bags at rice mills in bordering villages of the state. For instance, some rice millers in Bangarupet near Palamaneru in Chittoor district were found in possession of PDS rice bags. A rice miller in Prakasam district, who had purchased subsidy rice from fair price shop dealers, was caught with 22 tonnes of Rs 2-a-kg rice.
“Huge quantity of subsidy rice is being diverted from Chittoor, Nellore and Anantapur district. In Anantapur district alone there are 22 exit points,’’ a senior official of V&E told TOI.
The inquiries by the V&E also revealed that hundreds of ineligible persons too were getting subsidy rice. In a village Bodhawada, in J Pangulur mandal of Prakasam district, of the total 807 families, 777 families have white ration cards and are getting subsidy rice. Ironically, 90 per cent of houses in the village are RCC houses and some have even got two-three storied buildings.
In 13 villages in PC Pally mandal in Prakasam district, some fair price shop owners have shown in the record that rice was distributed to 2,000 card holders in two days. While the state government has introduced coupon system, some fair price shop dealers are not giving these coupons to beneficiaries and are simply ‘recording’ the names of cardholders, officials said.
“We have seized seven lorry loads of rice in Tirupati, Nizamabad, Nellore and Kurnool districts. Eight tractor loads were seized in Guntur, Vijayawada and Eluru district during our raids in the last one month,’’ a deputy inspector general of police of vigilance said.