WARANGAL: Warangal Commissionerate police personnel are busting three to five Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) rice rackets every week. Recently, Task Force sleuths seized 600 quintals of PDS rice worth Rs 15.60 lakh. On Saturday night, the cops arrested A Dayakar (45), the owner of Balaji Rice mills in Venkatapuram village, for illegally storing PDS rice in his mill within the Zaffargadh police station limits.
Dayakar purchased the rice from nearby villages and sold it at inflated prices for personal gain. The seized rice and Dayakar have been handed over to Zaffargadh Police for further action.
In just four months, a significant quantity of PDS rice has been seized within the Warangal Police Commissionerate limits. Despite weekly seizures, black marketers continue to collude with ration dealers to divert rice to other states. Taking advantage of the negligence of the authorities, the ration dealers directly sell the PDS rice to the rice millers and transport it to other states.
Task Force sleuths regularly conducting vehicle checks in the Warangal Police Commissionerate limits were seizing the rice and vehicles. Despite this, ration dealers and peddlers are not changing their attitude and stopping the illegal sale of PDS rice.
According to the data obtained by the TNIE, from January to July this year, Warangal Police Commissionerate authorities seized 4,169 quintals of PDS rice worth Rs 1.02 crore, registering 62 cases, and arrested 77 individuals. In 2023, from January to December, a total of 51 cases were registered, 65 were arrested, and 2,556 quintals of rice worth Rs 5.23 crore were seized.
Speaking to the TNIE, Task Force Inspector S Ravi Kumar said: “Dealers who persist in selling PDS rice in the black market are causing problems for those in need. Civil supplies authorities must conduct raids on ration dealers and rice mills. If excess stock is found, licences must be revoked, mills must be seized, and offenders must be booked under PD Act.”