Rice smuggling comes down as authorities flex muscle

COIMBATORE: Gone are the days when authorities would release the vehicles, used for smuggling rice distributed to the poor under public distribution system (PDS), after levying a small fine.
Taking a firm stand to curtail rice smuggling to neighbouring Kerala, as many as 250 such vehicles seized by the district supply office (DSO) last year, have not been released to the owners.
“We followed the directions of collector K Rajamani and decided not to release the vehicles. As it turns out, PDS rice smuggling has come down by 40%,” said a district administration official.
The smugglers mostly used lorries and two-wheelers. “Earlier, they would pay a penalty and get back the seized vehicles to go on with their business. Now that the vehicles are not released, some of them have stopped smuggling,” the official told TOI.
The smugglers source rice from Madurai and Tirupur. “As there about 40 routes connecting Coimbatore with Palakkad, rice is smuggled through the city,” he added.
The office of DSO is keeping 678 vehicles seized for smuggling rice over the years. It has sought permission from the Tamil Nadu civil supplies department to auction 170 of them.
Last month alone, DSO officials had seized three vehicles and recovered 16,835 kilograms of rice from smugglers.