A private rice mill at Aarpookkara near here has been closed down after a raid conducted under the leadership of Minister for Food and Civil supplies P. Thilothaman found serious irregularities in its functioning.
The dramatic events began with the Minister and his party arriving by 1.30 p.m. on the premises of Rani Rice Mill which had the licence to mill the paddy procured by the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation and return the processed rice to the Corporation for distribution through the PDS.
However, there had been complaints against the miller that he was bringing low-quality and rejected rice for polishing and adding colour to it. This low-quality rice was being returned to the Civil Supplies Corporation instead of the high-quality rice from the locally purchased paddy given to them for processing by the Corporation. It was alleged that the high-quality rice was sold in the open marker under the brand name Rani rice.
The Minister’s team found large quantity of low-quality rice, machinery used to process it and pigments used in polishing the rice from the mill’s premises.
Following this the Minister convened a meeting of District Collector C. A. Latha, District Supply Officer (DSO) and Additional District Magistrate (ADM) where the decision to close the mill was taken.
An inquiry by a team which includes the DSO and ADM has also been instituted.
