VIJAYAWADA: Expressing his concern over benefits of welfare programmes in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh being snatched away by rice smuggling mafia, TDP chief and Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu wrote a letter to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urging him to step up vigilance on the Tamil Nadu-AP border to curb illegal transportation of PDS rice.
Taking advantage of lack of adequate vigilance on the AP-TN border, the mafia was smuggling PDS rice meant for the poor, he said. Explaining its modus operandi to Stalin, Naidu said PDS rice from Tamil Nadu would be smuggled to AP. The smuggled PDS rice would be sent to rice mills. The millers would polish the rice and send it back to their smuggling partners. The polished rice would be sold at higher prices in the open market or smuggled to Karnataka, Naidu informed.