15 tonnes of PDS rice seized from village in Jamnagar

Rajkot: Ahead of the festive season, the Jamnagar district mamlatdar seized around 15,000kg of PDS rice from a godown on the outskirts of Kotda Bavisi village of Jamjodhpur taluka in Jamnagar district on Sunday night.
Officials of the district civil supply department said that they received a tip-off that a huge stock of grains reserved for the public distribution system (PDS) through a fair price shop was to be unloaded at the godown on Sunday night.
During the raid 301 bags of rice, each weighing 50 kg, and the truck which was transporting this stock was seized. The total seizure is worth Rs 7.25 lakh including the truck, valued Rs 5 lakh. Upon being interrogated, the driver revealed that he brought this stock from a fair price shop in Kadbal village.
The next day, a team of district officers visited Bhaya Belani’s fair price shop in Kadbal.
During verification, irregularities were found in the records of the grain stock.
Following which the officers seized stock worth Rs 1.27 lakh from the shop, suspended Belani’s licence and also initiated the process to lodge a police complaint against him.
The grain was meant to be distributed among the poor during Diwali through a fair price shop. According to sources, apart from Belani many others might also be involved in the scam.