Following the recent seizure of about 1,600 sacks of foodgrains illegally procured by a wholesale dealer at Punoor, joint squads comprising officials from various government departments have increased the number of flash inspections in some areas in the district. Senior officers of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) too have joined the special drive after they came across a few confidential complaints.

The presence of district-level officers will be ensured to coordinate inspections in wholesale units and supermarkets suspected of having involvement in hoarding or black marketing. District Collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao himself has already led such joint surprise inspections based on confidential complaints received at his office.

In Kozhikode district, a newly launched web application, COVID-19 Jagratha, and the District Collector’s official Facebook page are helping the district-level squad for making the drive effective. The web application has already been visited by one-and-a-half lakh people for different services. Through this, more than 160 complaints have been accepted.

The official Facebook page of the Collector has so far received 1,405 complaints related to various issues. Some of the complainants have given confidential information related to unfair trade operations of some wholesale suppliers and super markets.

An officer with the Legal Metrology Department said there were even supermarkets that tried to increase the price of essential commodities like chilly, coconut oil and wheat in such a way to get an additional margin between ₹100 and ₹180 a kg. “Action has been initiated against many such shops following flash inspections,” he said.