GUNTUR: The Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) Department conducted raids and seized 720 quintals and 153 quintals of PDS ragi and jowar stocks, worth Rs 53 lakhs, from private godowns at Sangadigunta and Yeukuru Road in Guntur on Saturday. V&E Regional Officer P Joshua formed five teams and personally monitored the raids.
The PDS stocks had been packed by Kartikeya Dal Producers of Vinukonda and Sri Surya Kumari Agencies of Visakhapatnam and all the stocks bore the official stamp of Andhra Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited (APSCSCL).
The officers found 148.5 quintals of ragi and 153 quintals of jowar in the name of Tunuguntla Nageswara Rao and Krishna Murthy, 41.5 quintals of ragi in the name of Parepalli Purnachandra Rao and Sons, 3.5 quintals in the name of Appala Ramakrishna New Farm, 525.5 quintals in the name of Appala Sriramachandra Murty, and one quintal more in the name of Sadhu Sivaprasad in the godowns at Yetukuru road and Sangadigunta.
Joshua said that following the discovery of the stocks, APSCSCL filed four criminal cases at Lalapet Police Station in Guntur. He said that the department suspected the role of suppliers of PDS stocks, fair price (FP) shops and supply points in this and the police would conduct inquiry on the basis of information received. He said that the stocks of oats and jowar were to be distributed among the ration card holders on subsidised rate through FP shops at the rate of Rs 1 per kg, but the traders were selling those at the rate of Rs 50 per kg in the open market.