The Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government has taken a key decision to crack down on illegal rice smuggling in the public distribution system. As part of that, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the illegal rice smuggling. The SIT was formed with six members under the leadership of CID IG Vineet Brij Lal.
However, strong objections were raised against the appointment of some members in the SIT. With this, the AP government decided to make several changes in the SIT team. As part of that, CID SP B. Uma Maheshwara Rao, BC Welfare Department Kakinada ED A. Srinivasa Rao, Women and Child Welfare Department Kurnool RJD P. Rohini, Vizianagaram District Civil Supplies Officer K. Madhusudhan Rao, and Konaseema District Civil Supplies Manager Bala Saraswati were appointed as members of the SIT.
Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad issued orders to this effect on Tuesday. It is known that appointment of four DSPs earlier in the SIT raised severe criticism, as serious accusations against them were made during the YCP regime suspecting their role in this scam. With this, the government has appointed two IPS officers, two Deputy Collector-level officers and senior officials from the Civil Supplies Department in the SIT.
13 cases have been registered in Kakinada regarding illegal smuggling of PDS rice. The SIT will conduct a comprehensive investigation into these. On the other hand, there were allegations in the past that rice belonging to the Public Distribution System was being illegally transported abroad.
Recently during his Kakinada visit Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan ordered the seizure of the ship that was ready to transport rice. With this, illegal smuggling of rice came into the news once again. Soon after, the government stepped in and took action.
On the other hand, Civil Supplies Department officials found during their inspections that hundreds of bags of rice belonging to PDS had disappeared from a godown named after Perni Jayasudha, the wife of former minister and YSRCP leader Perni Nani. In this case many people were detained and interrogated. It is reported that among them, this rice was transported through Kakinada port and it was admitted during interrogation by higher officials. With this, the stage is already set for their arrest.