BJP alleges massive rice scam in AP

PNS|Vijayawada

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Political Feedback Pramukh Lanka Dinakar has alleged that a massive rice scam has taken place in Andhra Pradesh and he has collected information on the scam through the Right to Information Act and RBI reports.

Lanka Dinakar said that there are allegations that rice given to the poor is recycled and exported abroad and there are a large number of lorries illegally transporting rice in almost all districts in Andhra Pradesh that have been caught by the Vigilance department.

“The largest export of rice in the country is from Kakinada. Nobody understands the source from where the rice is coming to the port, under which name the agreements are being made with which country, and under whose eyes the rice is being traded abroad are the questions worth noting. If a thorough investigation is conducted by the CBI, all those who have misappropriated funds, given by the central government for rice, will come out,” he said.

The BJP leader alleged that ration is provided to 1.45 crore BPL families in AP of which 89,24,640 families consisting of 2,67,10,659 individuals have been covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) for PM Gareeb Kalyana Yojana and they receiving free rice of 5 Kgs per month for each individual from the Union Government for the last 21 months in addition to the subsidised rice in the ration shops.

In addition to this, the remaining 56 lakh families, about 1.60 crore people are being given ration by spending the state government funds as per the information from the State Government, which has resulted that the Civil Supply Corporation has already borrowed 31 thousand crores.

According to the latest RBI report, 78.80 lakh people are living below the poverty line in AP per 2011-12 prices and 2.39 crore as per 2004-05 prices. But, Data reveals the facts as per the 2021-22 census, the population of the state is about 5.30 crore people with an average of 3.9 individuals per family, which means that the total number of households is only 1.36 crore only.

But the State government has been showing 4.25 crore beneficiaries of 1.45 crore families eligible for free and subsidised rice from the Central and State Governments. PM Gareeb Kalyana Yojana is being implemented since the Corona lockdown period to date in seven phases AP.