Bengaluru: The Karnataka Food and Civil Supplies department has unearthed a racket that was illegally exporting the government rice meant to be distributed under its five guarantee scheme, which included `Anna Bhagya'.
Interestingly, these operators used to polish the government rice in rice mills, brand them in different foreign brand names and exported it to Dubai, France and Singapore. At the moment, the police and Food and Civil Supplies officials have confiscated around 60 tons of rice worth over Rs six crore and are assessing the quantity of rice that has already been exported.
Besides, the police have sealed Sri Laxmi Venkateshwara Rice Mills in Gurumathkal, Kalaburgi district, where a large quantity of government rice was illegally stored.
The incident came to light when the Food and Civil Supplies officials raided a rice mill in Gangavathi district and unearthed illegally stored government rice, meant for public distribution. Following the clue, the officials raided many rice mills in Uttara Kannada district, Hassan District also, where they found huge quantities of government rice stored illegally.
During the investigation, the officials realised that the rice had been earlier transported to other godowns also. When they raided that godown, the officials found more rice in bags with brand name `Lal', which had prints in Arabic also. Growing suspicious, the officials made a detailed inquiry, which revealed that over 171 quintals of government rice had been exported to Dubai in 10 kg bags, which would fetch them around Rs 15,000 per bag.
The officials turned their eye on other places from where the government rice was being smuggled out. It was revealed that most of the rice was being diverted to Kalaburgi district. When they raided Sri Laxmi Rice Mills, they found the government rice being polished again and packed in 10 kg and 25 kg bags sporting brand names like Volga, AAA, Dar Double Star, Dynasty and so on. These are popular brands in countries like Dubai, Singapore and France.
While the government is still taking stock of the situation, Opposition BJP has charged that the entire government machinery was involved in smuggling rice out of the country.
Opposition Leader R Ashok said that the entire ministry was indulged in corruption and for the same reason, the Chief Minister's Economic Advisor Basavaraj Rayareddy has admitted that Karnataka was No 1 state in corruption.
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