THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau on Thursday conducted a statewide raid on Supplyco packing centres, Maveli stores, and ration shops and detected lapses from the part of senior officials in ensuring quality and quantity of the essential items included in the ‘Onam kit’ meant for free distribution.
The drive named ‘Operation Kit Clean’ was launched on the basis of complaints received by Vigilance Director Anil Kant. The complaints said the kit contained sub-standard items in lesser quantities than mentioned in the packet. There was also complaints that the prices printed on the packets were way more than the market price. The raids substantiated the allegations as several anomalies were detected in several places. The Vigilance’s statement said the quantity of jaggery was short by 50 to 100g in the kit, while packets of several items did not have any mention of their manufacturing and packing dates. In several places, some items in the kit were missing.
“There are lapses from the side of Supplyco’s higher officials in ensuring the quality and quantity of the essential items in the kit,” the Vigilance statement said. The government had announced that each kit will have essential items worth `500. But the Vigilance said kits in most of the packing centres were found to have items ranging from `400 to `490.
Anil Kant said Vigilance will compare the market retail price (MRP) of the items in the kit and their original market price in the coming days. The service of food safety department and legal metrology officials will be made available to assess the quality and quantity of the items included in the kit.