About 150 gunny bags containing paddy were seized from a lorry at a direct purchase centre at Kannarapettai hamlet near Mannargudi on Thursday.
According to official sources, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption personnel received complaints that DPC staff were demanding ₹40 per bag from farmers for weighing the paddy. Thus a team of DVAC officials from Tiruvarur landed at the Kannarapettai DPC on Thursday evening where they seized unaccounted money of ₹32,000 from the DPC staff and ₹50,000 from the lorry parked on the premises. Further, 150 gunny bags of paddy stacked on the lorry was also seized by the DVAC personnel since they were not able to locate any documents relating to the paddy bags loaded in the vehicle.
As the initial investigations revealed that the paddy bags were transported to Kannarapettai DPC from a TNCSC open-air stockyard in Tiruvarur district, the officials concerned were alerted by the DVAC personnel.
When this issue was brought to the notice of Food Minister R. Kamaraj at the Collectorate where he had distributed two-wheelers to the beneficiaries of Amma Scooter scheme on Friday, the Minister said any complaints of malpractices in the procurement of paddy would be dealt with severely.
