Uttar Pradesh: Grain trader booked for illegally procuring PDS rice

A case has been registered against a grain trader in Pilibhit’s Bilsanda for allegedly procuring rice meant for distribution to ration card holders under the govt’s public distribution system illegally on Saturday, following a written complaint by regional supply inspector of district supply office, Shanti Swaroop.The recovery of the govt rice was made by an official team during a raid conducted at the godown of the grain trader, located on Bilsanda-Bisalpur road near village Charkhaula, on Thursday following orders of Bisalpur circle’s sub divisional magistrate Nagendra Pandey. The FIR was lodged in the matter after DM Sanjay Kumar Singh granted permission for action on Friday.

The official team recovered 27 stitched bags of rice of 50 kg each and 13 unstitched bags of 20 kg each. In addition, 1 quintal of rice was found in loose form scattered on the polythene sheets, the complainant said, adding that the godown was sealed while the recovered rice stock was given in custody of one Naveen Kumar Jaiswal until further orders.

The grain trader, Praveen Kumar Jaiswal, who was involved in illegally procuring the PDS rice and transferring it from the PDS printed govt bags to ordinary ones, fled the godown during the raid, Swaroop added.

Bilsanda SHO Pradeep Kumar Vishnoi said that following the permission by DM, the trader was booked under sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act.

This article has been republished from The Times of India.