1,320 tonnes of PDS rice identified in Stella Ship: Kakinada Collector
Kakinada: Inspection teams have found another 580 metric tonnes of PDS ration rice in the Stella-L Panama Flag ship at the Kakinada Anchorage Port.
Previously, on November 27, district collector Shan Mohan on an inspection of the same ship found 640 metric tonnes of PDS rice loaded on it. The export firm claimed it had paid the bank guarantee for the rice. Following this, deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan inspected the anchorage port on Nov 29 and ordered the formation of a team of officials to investigate the matter.
Officials drawn from five departments thoroughly checked the ship and sent the raw rice to the labs.
Shan Mohan along with SP Vikrant Patil and joint collector Rahul Meena told the media on Tuesday that the lab test reports have confirmed that a total 1320 metric tonnes of rice loaded on the ship was ration rice. This included the 640 metric tonnes in the ship at the anchorage port in Kakinada out of a total stock of 4,000 metric tonnes of rice in the ship.
The entire 1320 tonnes of PDS rice belonged to only one export company. The cargo would be unloaded from the ship and a thorough inquiry would be done to ascertain the extent of the PDS ration fraud, the collector said.
Asked whether the Stella-L ship would be allowed to move with the remaining cargo, he said a decision on this would be taken soon. “There will be no problem in the export of the boiled rice and broken rice from the port,” he said.
He said only raw rice will be tested in the laboratories. A detailed probe would be done on 1060 metric tonnes of rice belonging to two exporters, which has been detained in anchorage port Jetty.
The collector said the special team inspected five compartments and took 12 samples, out of which they found that 1320 metric tonnes of rice was from the PDS stock. Some 12,000 metric tonnes of rice has to be loaded into the ship. Clearance would be given for this after a thorough checking.
He said those who would want to export or import clear cargo would face no problem at the port. Rice millers and port- based workers need not worry about any harm to their present business through the anchorage port.
Asked if the 640 metric tonnes of rice which had bank guarantee would be allowed export, Shan Mohan it was yet to be determined whether the rice was given a bank guarantee at all.
He also said check posts are being strengthened and another check post has been set up at Kakinada Deep Water Port. The anchorage port has a capacity to handle 12 ships at a time. If more ships arrive, those would be allowed into the deep water port.
