Jyotipriya Mallick, food dept officers conduct raids in East Burdwan

Kolkata: In the wake of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing her concern over supply of poor quality rice under Khadya Sathi project in some places at her recent administrative meetings in the district, state Food and Supplies minister Jyotipriya Mallick along with officers of his department conducted raids in East Burdwan district and found irregularities in the quality of rice stored at the godowns of some ration dealers and distributors.

The minister stumbled upon more than 100 sacks of rice from Jalandhar stored at the godown of distributor Mika Singh Baluka at Begunia, Satgachia area under Memari Block II in East Burdwan.

"We have started a detailed enquiry on how rice from another state had reached the godown of this distributor. Inspectors of our department who are part of the raid will probe the matter," Mallick said.

The minister had reiterated that ration shops, which are under scanner for the last few days for selling inferior quality of rice, had procured paddy or rice from elsewhere illegally and not from the stock of the Food department.

Mallick during his raid from Wednesday evening till late night also found extremely low quality of paddy and rice stored at the godown of one Balai Chandra Adhya in the same area. The stuff was infested with insects and when asked about the procurement of the stuff, Adhya could not provide satisfactory answers.

"The distributors who have been found to be involved in this unlawful practice has already been showcaused," a senior official of the Food department said.

The minister also raided ration shops at Satgachia in Kalna, East Burdwan and found poor quality rice in the shop of one Ranjit Bhattacharjee.

"The minister immediately stopped supply of rice from the existing stock and made arrangements for new stock. The BDO has been asked to conduct a probe," the official added.

Meanwhile, SDO Salt Lake along with a team of food department officials raided ration shops at Falguni and Sukanta Nagar and took immediate action after finding low quality rice in two shops.

A probe was also ordered in the matter.