Andhra Pradesh : Civil supplies department not to stock rice in private godowns
In the wake of recent controversies about missing huge rice stocks from leased godowns, the state civil supplies department has decided not to manage the godowns to stock the rice.
Instead, the civil supplies department will keep the rice stocks in the godowns owned by Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and AP State Warehousing Corporation Limited (APSWCL).
The decision was taken after the scandal of rice bags found missing from the private godown owned by former minister and YSRCP leader Perni Nani’s wife Jayasudha in Machilipatnam. The civil supplies corporation took the private godown on lease and kept its stock for distribution under PDS and other welfare schemes. Since the corporation has been paying lease amount it is the responsibility of the godown owner to upkeep and safeguard the stocks.
However, about 3800 bags of rice worth nearly Rs.2 crore was found missing from the godown owned by Perni Nani’s family almost six months after TDP came into power. Surprisingly, the issue of stock missing came to light only after former minister’s family itself communicated to the civil supplies department and expressed its willingness to pay the cost.Even before the civil supplies department woke up to handle the issue, Nani’s family submitted the cheque to compensate the loss of the stock.
The issue created huge controversy in the political circles as the ruling party leaders too were found not keen to grab such an opportunity to fix the YSRCP leader who was involved in the scandal. This issue is particularly significant in the wake of deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan and civil supplies minister Nadendla Manohar both from Janasena, launching a crusade against illegal transport of PDS rice in the state.Police registered a criminal case against Nani, his wife, godown manager and a few officials from civil supplies department many days after the scandal came to light. While the police arrested the godown manager and officials, Perni Nani and his wife got relief from the High Court.
Similar incidents were reported in many districts where the rice stocks of civil supplies corporation went missing from the private godowns.
The state govt is of the view that that the rice stocks might have been diverted to the millers in connivance with the field level officials. Taking such instances into consideration, civil supplies corporation managing director Manzeer Jilani directed the district supply officers and district managers not to enter into any fresh agreements with the private godown owners to stock the rice bags. He asked the officials to depend on the CWC and AP warehousing godowns.
This article has been republished from The Times of India.