Karnataka seizes 5.64 lakh kg of PDS rice in crackdown on smuggling racket

BENGALURU : The Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department cracked the whip against black-market syndicates illegally diverting Public Distribution System (PDS) rice, and seized 5.64 lakh kilos of grain.

According to the department, the miscreants allegedly smuggled the rice into Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Officials seized 24 trucks and booked nine people in this connection.

The drive also exposed an international smuggling racket operating out of Bengaluru Rural district. At Attibele checkpost, the Joint Director of Bengaluru Urban district intercepted a truck transporting 700 bags (35,000kg) of Food Corporation of India (FCI) PDS rice valued at Rs 11,63,750, packaged under the trade name ‘WoW’ with the tagline ‘Rice for Africa’.

Investigations revealed that Mandya-based Annapurneshwari Enterprises had purchased local FCI grain, lightly polished it at a mill, and sold it to Madhya Pradesh-based Sailor Exports Limited for illegal dispatch to Africa via Chennai Port.

This unauthorised export directly violates the Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act, 1981, leading to the registration of the FIR.

Preliminary departmental audits uncovered a massive discrepancy — the suspect entities traded up to 56,459.87 quintals of rice in the past two months (August and September) against a legitimate FCI purchase record of merely 5,000 quintals, prompting the Deputy Director of Mandya to issue formal show-cause notices to all parties concerned.

The largest single facility raid during the operation was carried out in Belagavi district at Sri Banashankari Agro Processing Pvt. Ltd, located in Lokur village, Kagwad taluk. Multi-agency officials raided the rice mill and warehouse, seizing 4,22,800kg of stored PDS rice worth Rs 98,67,813, impounding 19 trucks valued at Rs 2.66crore, and officially sealing the entire processing facility.

In Belagavi district, joint teams intercepted 71,800kg of PDS rice in three trucks bound for Maharashtra, where the grain was being repackaged into colourful branded bags for open-market sale, resulting in separate FIRs at Nippani Rural and Malamaruti police stations against drivers from Latur, Satara and Hubballi.

In Vijayapura city, Jalanagar police impounded an abandoned truck carrying 35,392kg of rice valued at Rs 8,26,020 after the driver fled during the raid.

Demonstrating zero-tolerance for internal misconduct or administrative negligence, Commissioner of Food and Civil Supplies B Poornima placed Hukkeri taluk food inspector Praveen Sagar and shirastedar LB Dange under suspension, and ordered a departmental inquiry.

The officers had been instructed to inspect and prosecute an illegal PDS storage facility belonging to Ravi Traders in Bastawad village, but instead committed gross dereliction of duty by releasing the impounded truck and grain without registering an FIR or informing higher authorities.

Minister Rizwan Arshad issued a stern warning that strict legal action will continue against all perpetrators, whether private smugglers, corporate exporters or complicit public officials, until PDS rice theft is completely eradicated across Karnataka.

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