A three-member panel constituted by Director Food and Civil Supplies Anindita Mitra to ascertain the total quantity of missing grains in the alleged paddy scam visited the site on Thursday to find around 400 consignments of 27 metric tonnes each missing from Veerumal Mulk Raj Jain rice mill in Amritsar.
The three-member panel comprising of Additional Director, Food and Civil Supplies Amarjit Singh, senior Markfed official Sunil Puri and DGM of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, Amandeep Singh, visited the mill and godowns in the vicinity of the mill on Jandiala Road found that most of the grains were intact in the three godowns.
The panel got the godowns unlocked in the presence of duty magistrate and conducted a physical verification. Sources said, prima facie it looked most of the stock of Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC) was intact, but those stored in the mill premises by Pungrain agency were missing.
“At the godowns, we found the gunny bags filled with rice. We could not weigh all the bags. The exact amount of paddy available there would be ascertained only when the bags are weighed,” said a government official. The panel is in the process of compiling its report that it is likely to submit to the Director on Friday.
An alleged scam worth Rs 56 crore, under which about 12,000 metric tonnes of paddy had gone missing from a private Veerumal Mulk Raj Jain rice mill in Amritsar had come to light two days ago. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had ordered a vigilance probe into the case of missing paddy, procured during 2017 Kharif season.