Stella L ship from which 640 MT PDS rice was seized at Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh (ETV Bharat)
Kakinada: Authorities in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada are releasing the whopping 640 metric tonnes of PDS rice seized recently from the anchorage port here, for export to West Africa after bank guarantee from the exporter, official sources said.
The PDS rice was seized recently during a surprise inspection by Kakinada District Collector Shan Mohan along with a team of civil and police officials on the Stella L ship at the anchorage port here. As per an official, 38,000 metric tons of rice were loaded on the ship with a capacity of 52,000 metric tons out of which, 640 metric tons were found to be PDS rice on the basis of samples taken from five hatches of the ship.
The PDS rice stock seized at the Kakinada port is being released upon the bank guarantee given by the exporter, said DSO Prasad.
It is learnt that officials have identified 1,064 tonnes of rice stocks in barge IV0073, to be loaded onto a ship that exports rice abroad from Kakinada Port. The rice has been found to belong to Lavan and Sai Teja Exports as per official sources.
It can be recalled that in June this year, Andhra Pradesh’s Minister for Civil Supplies, Nadendla Manohar had alleged that Kakinada port was used to smuggle ration rice from the state accusing Kakinada former MLA Dwarampudi Chandrasekhar of diverting the ration rice from the port.