VIJAYAWADA: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded that the State government initiate a probe into the unrestrained smuggling of PDS rice from Kakinada Port and punish those responsible.
In a press release, CPI (M) State Secretary V. Srinivas Rao pointed out that PDS rice is being smuggled into the port through various channels, employing different methods, and claimed that the diversion of ration rice begins from within the Civil Supplies Department.
“The government failed to arrest even a single person involved in the PDS smuggling even after ministers visited the port recently, leaving the culprits scot-free,” he said, demanding a concrete action plan to address the matter.
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee President Y.S. Sharmila Reddy also echoed a similar opinion, describing the smuggling of PDS rice to foreign countries as a big mafia and calling it a national-level scam. Furthermore, she demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire episode.
In a post on social media platform X, the Congress leader claimed the involvement of people’s representatives and some officials in the PDS rice scam, and stressed the need to unearth the facts and people behind the smuggling.
Reiterating that the Kakinada Port inspection turned into a fiasco, bringing the inefficiency of the government to the fore, YSRC leader Ambati Rambabu called it the administration’s failure as it failed to curb PDS rice smuggling. He ridiculed Dy CM Pawan Kalyan and others for dragging the Aurobindo group into the issue.
“Aurobindo has a 41% stake in Kakinada Deep Sea Port and the one in question is the Anchorage Port,” he explained.