KHAMMAM: About six ration dealers, sitting in Hyderabad, have cheated tribals of remote villages in the Bhadrachalam division by exhausting their quota of PDS rice, a total of 44 quintals. One may wonder, how did they pull that off? In view of the Covid-19 pandemic and to contain the spread of the disease, the government had introduced some relaxations in its public distribution system (PDS) in July. It had introduced a portability system for PDS rice distribution, under which cardholders could collect their ration from anywhere in the State, but in the presence of local officials. These officials take the cardholders’ thump impression to keep track of their consumption quota.
Taking advantage of this relaxation, about six ration dealers from Hyderabad downloaded the key register containing the details of all cardholders who have been taking more than 50 kg of rice. Using these details, they collected about 44 quintals, with the help of local officials, between July and September.
The scam came to light when the tribals of remote Tippapuram, Lingapuram, Kurnavalli and Satyanarayanapuram villages — located near the Chhattisgarh border — went to collect ration from their local ration dealers. After verifying their details, the dealers informed them that their ration quota had been exhausted.
Shocked, the tribals took up the matter with the Civil Supply officials, who launched an investigation. “After receiving complaints from 52 tribal families, we inquired about what exactly happened and found that the rice was collected in Hyderabad. We prepared a report and sent it to the Civil Supplies head office for further action,” K Venkateswarlu, Deputy Tahsildar of the Civil Supplies Department, said. In another similar case reported on Tuesday at Cherla mandal, officials received a complaint of ration being collected fraudulently.