A 27-year-old fair price shop salesman in Chinnarampatti village near Vaniyambadi town in Tirupattur was suspended for misappropriation of essential items, including rice meant for cardholders, on Thursday.
After several residents in the village complained about prolonged delay in receiving rations, a surprise check was carried out by a team of officials led by Collector K. Tharpagaraj. Following the inspection, Mr. Tharpagaraj ordered the suspension of the accused salesman, S. Prithviraj.
“We regularly monitor the total stocks and dispatched rations to all PDS (Public Distribution System) in the district. We also check whether cardholders get their allotted rations without failure,” V. Shanthi, District Supplier Officer, Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, told The Hindu.
During the inspection by Ms. Shanthi and two deputy registrars from the department, it was found that 105 bags of rice, weighing 50 kg each, 103 kg of sugar, 68 kg of toor dal and 43 litre of palm oil had been missing from the stocks allotted to the ration shop. Except rice, other missing essential items were valued at ₹2.49 lakh. From the the outlet’s register, the team learned that, out of the total 936 cardholders, rations had been distributed only to 600 of them.
The salesman had told the remaining cardholders that stock was not available. Officials said that Prithviraj joined the government service in September 2023 and had been working as salesman at the outlet in Chinnarampatti village for the past three months.
The outlet is among the 591 fair price shops in the district, officials said.
