Civil supplies assistant held for bungling PDS rice worth Rs 10 lakh
Civil supplies assistant held for bungling PDS rice worth Rs 10 lakh
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Koraput: In the Koraput district of Odisha, a sales assistant for civil supplies was reportedly detained for allegedly mishandling a sizable quantity of PDS rice valued more than Rs 10 lakh.
According to allegations, Daitari Harijan stole 497 quintals of rice from the Banuaguda panchayat godown in the Kundra block of the district, worth around Rs 10 lakh.
Recent reviews of the PDS beneficiaries programme in the Banuaguda panchayat by block officials in Kundra found discrepancies in the rice stock controlled by the assistant who was on an ad hoc assignment, they claimed.
The Block Development Officer (BDO) and a local civil supplies inspector then went to the panchayat office where they discovered that there was a 497 quintal rice shortage and asked the assistant to explain. Harijan asserted that the rice was taken and that he was unaware of the supply that had gone missing.
The Kundra Police station received a report about the incident from Banuaguda's panchayat executive officer (PEO). Following information about the missing stock obtained from nearby rice traders and panchayat employees, police detained and questioned three people, including Harijan. A phone, an autorickshaw, ten sacks of rice, 20 empty rice bags, and the sales assistant were all eventually taken into custody, according to the police.
