During a surprise raid, a team of district Supply officials led by the Brahmapur Sub-Collector seized a private godown at Jaradagada under Patrapur block, 50km from here on Sunday as huge amounts PDS food stocks, including thousands of paddy and rice bags were hidden at the godown for black marketing.
Sources said, the godown owner, who is very close to the ruling party BJD, is absconding before the raid apprehending police action. Notably, this is the second raid that has been conducted to unearth the diverted PDS items. Similar raids were also conducted on the same godown three years back, which was foiled.
Sources said that there are more than 10,000 bags of rice, paddy and other PDS items like kerosene, as the godown owner is said to be the sub-wholesale dealer of kerosene and other items for the entire Chikiti constituency. At the same time, the effort of the Brahmapur Sub-Collector is being appreciated by the locals. This raid holds significance of the Economic Survey Report (2014-15) that reveals that Odisha ranks second in PDS Wheat black-marketing, said an observer.