12,500 BAGS OF ‘CHEAPER PADDY’ BROUGHT INTO STATE MANDIS SEIZED

OVER THE PAST MONTH, THE DEPT HAS SEIZED NEARLY 2.5 LAKH BAGS OF PADDY OF PREVIOUS YEARS THAT WERE BEING BROUGHT INTO THE STATE

Continuing the crackdown, the Punjab food a nd civil supplies department has seized 17 trucks containing 12,500 bags of paddy being brought from Bihar to circulate cheaper paddy into Punjab mandis.

“The trucks were spotted by food and civil supplies officer at a petrol pump in Shambhu, Rajpura. The superintendent of police (SP), vigilance, was called on the spot and a First-Information Report (FIR) was lodged,” said food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu in a statement.

The minister said he was informed that 28 trucks of paddy/rice had come into the state through the same barrier earlier in the day.

“I will take up the issue with the State Mandi Board and write to them that complete details of each truck pertaining to the loading point and off loading destination be entered in the record register at the inter-state barrier by the officials of Mandi board on duty and simultaneously these details should be routed on daily basis to the food and civil supplies department so that the state purchase agencies are updated about the same. We need to ensure that they work easily,” he said.

Ashu said this would help them to keep a tab on the movement/inflow of rice/paddy in state mills and mandis and plug the illegal circulation of paddy/rice of other states in Punjab as well as check bogus billing.

In one month, the department has seized nearly 2.5 lakh bags of paddy and 2 lakh bags of previous years that were being brought into the state.