Erabot cracks whip against alleged cheats
BPL rice seized from Pvt godown
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, January 03: Cracking the whip against fraudulent suppliers of the FCS Department, FCS Minister Y Erabot accompanied by officials of the Department today raided a private godown where 2120 quintal of BPL and AAY rice were found stashed away.

The total quantity of rice was found packed in 4240 bags each weighing 50 Kgs each.

FCS Minister and his team breaks open the private godown where the BPL rice was stashed

The godown belongs to one Manglem and is located at Mantripukhri near the NRL oil pump, while the rice was lifted from the FCS godown by one Kewal Agarwal alias Bipin Traders.

On paper all the rice had been distributed across the districts of Manipur and the record at the FCS godown reflected this.

The rice was meant to be distributed to the people under the Targeted Public Distribution System.

Speaking to reporters who had accompanied the Minister to cover the raid, Erabot said that the raid was conducted after he received inputs that the rice had not been distributed to the public.

"I am also part of the public and I know that rice is not available in my Constituency (Wangkhei AC).

To bust the ring, I started gathering information discreetly and after receiving specific information, this godown was raided," explained the Minister.

Under no circumstances can rice lifted from the FCS godown be stored in private godowns.

The rice has been seized and a case has been registered with the Heingang Police Station.

Along with the rice, the team also seized 42 chalan which showed that the rice had been lifted from the FCS godown.

A register containing some records was also seized during the raid.

Addressing the reporters, Erabot said, "Conducting raids is not necessary.

Such raids are however conducted only after receiving specific inputs".

Facing queries from the reporters on why it was necessary for a Minister to lead the raid, Erabot came straight to the point and said that the FCS officials are reluctant to carry out any raid because of the threat perception.

"At the moment, six FCS officials are staying at the State Guest House following threats and intimidations from different quarters," informed the Minister.

Another raid was also conducted at a nearby godown belonging again to Manglem.

There the team came across 300 bags of Annapurna rice meant for Mid Day Meal Scheme.

This has also been seized as such consignments cannot be stored in private godowns.

To a query on what has happened to the case in connection with the missing 3000 quintal of rice from the FCI godown earlier, the Minister quipped that though a case has been registered, the police have not been able to arrest even the store keeper.

"With such a record, can we expect the police to deal with the militants ?" he shot back.