Rice meant for poor ends up in black market

Mangaluru: An early morning raid conducted at the Mangalore Rice Mill premises located at Shakthi Nagar has unearthed black marketing of the rice meant for poor under the Akshara Dasoha scheme.

Nearly 1350kg rice (270 bags) of illegally stored rice was seized during the three-hour raid, that began at 6 am on Friday morning, conducted by the police in the presence of Corporator Divakar and RTI activist Hanumantha Kamath.

Apart from the rice the police also recovered fake bills and empty bags, meant for repacking of the rice which would then be marketed at higher prices under a different brand name.

Speaking to presspersons Kamath informed that few officials and political leaders were involved in the racket which was going on for a few months now. The rice so supplied in the black market is being sold at higher prices, he said.

Corporator Diwakar stated that district in-charge minister UT Khader had been informed about the illegal activity being carried out at the rice mill and he would raise the issue during the review meeting scheduled with CM Kumaraswamy later in the day.

Meanwhile, the Kavoor police have sealed the rice mill and taken into custody the lorry driver.