KAKINADA: Seizing the controversial Stella L Panama cargo ship exporting rice may not be possible due to procedural and legal issues.
The 10-member multidisciplinary committee constituted after Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan inspected the ship on November 28, collected random samples from the third hatch, and submitted its report.
District Collector Shan Mohan Sagili hinted that it may not be possible to seize the ship, while speaking to media on Tuesday, along with SP Vikrant Patil and Joint Collector Rahul Meena.
The cargo ship arrived from Haldia port on November 11 on way to reach Cotonou Port, Benin by December 15. The ship has 52,000 metric tonnes capacity with five hatches.
On credible information, the Collector inspected the ship on November 27, and said 640 metric tonnes of PDS rice was loaded, but it was released with bank guarantees. Pawan Kalyan visited the port the next day, and directed the officials to seize the ship.
The Collector said the identified PDS rice stock of 1,320 metric tonnes on the shop would be downloaded, and it would take 48 hours. The cargo belongs to Satyam Balajee Rice Industries, and the process of acquiring the stock is being investigated further. Later, the remaining loading works onto the ship would be taken up, he said.
At anchorage port, a barge was already seized with 1,054 metric tonnes of PDS rice after all inspections.
Records of rice exporters under verification
The rice belongs to Lavana International and Sai Teja Exporters. Records of both the companies are being verified. Other companies involved are also being probed.
In connection with the 13 PDS rice pending cases, 137 rice mills were identified and inspected for the past few days, SP said. While 89 mills are in Andhra Pradesh, the remaining are located in Telangana, Chhattisgarh and other States. After all verifications, further action would be initiated. There would be no impact on the shipping activity, the SP said as 12 ships are awaiting the loading of raw rice, boiled and broken rice at the Kakinada port.