Spoiled rice: Vasco fair price shops begin replacing sub-standard stock

Panaji/Vasco: After images of maggot-infested rice distributed by fair price shops ignited a furore, director of civil supplies and consumer affairs department Gopal Parsekar conducted checks at the Vasco godown from where the rice was sourced.
Videos of the inedible rice did the rounds on social media earlier this week. The clips reveal that rice distributed to beneficiaries by fair price shops was infested with maggots, mites, and fungus.
“Something like this can happen especially since we order approximately 5,000 metric tonnes of grains per month,” said Parsekar.
He maintained that there was no dampness at the Vasco godown that could have caused the maggot infestation. He, however, said that the civil supplies staff does not carry out checks of all the grains that arrive at the godowns across the state.
“The stock is randomly checked by the staff,” he said.
Two sacks of about 100kg were reportedly found spoiled and Parsekar instructed that the damaged grains be immediately replaced. “After the check on Wednesday, we have seen that the remaining grains at the godown are of good quality,” he said. “We have instructed the societies that supply us grains to immediately replace the spoiled stock of rice.”
“I have issued necessary directions to the fair price shop that received the sub-standard rice to send back it to the godown for replacement. The fair price shops already have started replacing the sub-standard quota with fresh ones,” said civil supplies inspector for Mormugao taluka, Sarita Morajkar.
Parsekar also inspected the godown at Margao and took feedback from civil supplies inspectors from the remainder of the godowns across the state to ensure that the quality of the grains has not been compromised.