YADGIR, 8 Sept

Officials of the Food and Civil Supplies Department seized around 41,0800kgs of rice supplied under the Anna Bhagya public distribution system and being illegally stored in Yadgir.

A joint raid was conducted by the police, the Food Department and related officials late on Friday night at Sri Lakshmi Venkateshwara Industries on the outskirts of Taluk Gurmitkal.

"Officials confiscated 4,108 quintals of Anna Bhagya rice, with an estimated market value of over ₹1 crore 17 lakh. The rice had been stocked illegally in large quantities," "Anilkumar Dhavalagi, Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies Yadgir, told Salar News. “It took three days to count the rice bags.”

Investigations revealed that rice supplied under the Anna Bhagya public distribution scheme was being collected from different parts of the district and brought to the industry. It was then polished using modern machinery and repackaged into 10kg and 25kg bags under foreign brand names like Dynasty, Volga AAA, Dara Double Star, etc. The repackaged rice was allegedly meant to be exported to Singapore, France, and Gulf nations.

This development comes close on the heels of recent Anna Bhagya rice smuggling cases in Sirsi (Uttara Kannada), Gangavati (Koppal), and Arakalgudu (Hassan).