Rice mafia in AP

Vijayawada: The impression so far was that during the five-year rule of the YSRCP, the Sand, Land, Liquor and Ganja mafias had taken over the state but now a new rice mafia has come to light.

Addressing a media conference on Sunday, Minister for Civil Supplies Nadendla Manohar said the NDA government was making a serious effort to put an end to the rice mafia. It has found that there has been a deep-rooted conspiracy involving many bigwigs, public representatives, middlemen and some officials, including some police personnel. The more the government was digging into the details of the smuggling issue, the more new facts were coming to light, he said.

Manohar said some officials were still not acting as per law. When Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan wanted to visit the port, he got several messages asking him not to visit saying that it would upset the livelihood of several people. When he and Pawan visited the port, they were not allowed to inspect the ship which was loaded with rice and finally, they had seized the ship. About 28 companies had booked rice for export on that ship.

The minister said the Kakinada port had surpassed all ports in the state in terms of quantum of rice exported from its shores. He said in the last three financial years 1,21,18,346 metric tons of rice worth Rs 48.537 crore was exported from here.

“No outsider even today was allowed to enter the port. There were just six police officials on duty per shift. This had even endangered national security,” he said.

The previous government threatened GMR and forcefully got 41.12 percent shares in the Kakinada port transferred to Aurobindo Realty. This belongs to the bigwigs of the YSRCP. Similarly, another organisation called Manasa was given seven acres of land, he added.

Explaining the networking, Manohar said that between 1st and 15th of every month ration is supplied to the beneficiaries. The previous government purchased 9,360 new vehicles to transport rice meant for smuggling to the Kakinada port with public money saying that they were meant for door delivery of ration but used them for smuggling through green channel, he explained.

As 60% of the people eat fine rice, middlemen used to buy the PDS rice for Rs 11 a kg from the card holders, sell it to big dealers for Rs 29 and export the same for Rs 43 per kg, he said.

He said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan were very serious to put an end to this mafia. The government would not spare anyone howsoever big he might be. This issue would also come for discussion at the next cabinet meeting, Manohar said.

He further said since June 2024, 51,427 MT of rice was seized. Of this, 25,386 MT was identified as ration rice. He said a committee headed by District Collectors has been constituted and a criminal case against 13 companies has been booked and the probe was on, he added.