Dehradun Police seized a loader carrying 19 sacks of Public Distribution System (PDS) food grains at Maliyana Mohallah under Kotwali Police station area on Thursday.
The loader driver ran away from the scene on seeing the police. The seized sacks carried the stamps of the Punjab and Haryana State Governments. Kotwali Police Station in-charge Jaimal Singh Negi said that he had informed the District Food and Civil Supply officer Shyam Arya about seized vehicle and food grains. However, Arya said that a department inspector was sent to verify seized food grains and action will be taken accordingly.
Negi said that police rushed to the Maliyana Mohallah Chowk after being informed about some persons quarrelling there. After reaching there, police found no one was quarrelling there but they saw an abandoned loader there.
Police found 19 sacks of PDS food grains in the loader. Investigation was on till the time of this report being filed.It may be mentioned here that based on public complaints, then City Magistrate Harak Singh Rawat had conducted raids in the godown of a shopkeeper Monti Bansal at Maliyana Mohallah and sealed 433 sacks of rice and 135 sacks of wheat last year but no action has been taken against the offenders so far.
Sources state that pilferage and diversion of PDS food grains is a common phenomenon but the authorities have so far failed to take effective action to clamp down on this.