Karnataka - Mangalore   

Arrest of rice racket accused sought

By Our Staff Correspondent

MANGALORE, JUNE 5. The Dakshina Kannada district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded the immediate arrest of the accused in the rice racket detected in the city recently.

A press release from K.R. Shriyan, district unit secretary if the party, here today stated that the authorities concerned had exposed a clandestine racket in exporting rice allocated for the food-for-work scheme. The same had been recovered from private godowns.

Mr. Shriyan said though the State had been in the grip of a severe drought for the past four years, drought-relief works were not implemented satisfactorily. The previous Congress Government led by S.M. Krishna failed to properly utilise foodgrains obtained from the then National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre after repeated representations and prolonged agitation.

Mr. Shriyan claimed that nearly 75 per cent of the foodgrains thus provided was being readied to be exported clandestinely or sold in the black market. Stressing the need for a comprehensive investigation of the issue, he said the magnitude of the racket indicated the involvement of politicians, officials, shipping agents and others in high places. He demanded that all these people be charged under the Essential Commodities Act and imprisoned.

Mr. Shriyan also urged the authorities concerned to seek the permission of the courts to release the stocks of rice impounded and distribute the same to the poor and the needy at the earliest.

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