Hyderabad: Civil supplies and vigilance officials conducted coordinated raids on shops selling rice meant for the public distribution system (PDS) by packaging it as fine variety rice to customers in Karmanghat here.
The raids revealed that ration rice was being polished and sold under different “branded names” in the unfolding scam estimated to be worth Rs 2,000 crore.
With fine rice (sanna biyyam) prices surging, traders were processing “ration rice” and selling it in the market for between Rs 80 and Rs 100 per kilo.
Following a tip-off, the officials reached the Karmanghat area, prompting several traders to shut down their shops on Thursday.
Officials also found that some rice depots were operating without valid trade licences.
Authorities are investigating several angles, including whether ration rice meant for the poor is illegally making its way into the open market, who was behind this racket, where the rice is being procured from, and which areas it is being supplied to.
Further clarity on the quality of the rice and the extent of the irregularities is being determined by the ongoing investigation.
Civil supplies officials informed that during the inspections, various irregularities and violations of regulations were identified at 10 rice trading establishments located within the Amberpet, Khairatabad, Secunderabad, Mehdipatnam, and Nampally circles.
Cases have been registered against the traders.
Key violations included operating without the required trade licences.
Two of the establishments were found to have rice bags that were underweight.
At one establishment, a bag of branded rice — which should have weighed 26 kg — contained only 24.960 kg.
A similar instance was discovered at another establishment.
Cases were also registered under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, against instances such as the use of unverified weighing scales, the use of scales with expired verification, and the failure to use weighing scales for commercial transactions.
“Action has been taken after discovering that some rice bags lacked the manufacturer’s name and other prescribed information.
Inspections revealed irregularities regarding GST registrations and FSSAI licences in certain business establishments,” an official added.
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