In a crackdown against smuggling of paddy/rice from other states, the Punjab Police has registered at least eight FIRs against 16 people for attempting to sell their produce in the state, since the paddy procurement commenced from October 3.
“The police have also arrested eight persons after seizing 7260 quintals of paddy/rice besides impounding seven vehicles/trucks in different districts including Mansa, Patiala, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran and Sangrur,” officiating Director General of Police (DGP), Punjab, Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota said here on Tuesday.
“Unscrupulous elements were bringing paddy procured at low rates from other states to sell in Punjab, for unauthorised storage and selling at minimum support price (MSP), which could lead to malpractices like bogus billing etc,” an official spokesperson said.
The DGP said that “as many as 94 inter-state nakas have been set up and different teams of Punjab Police have been deployed at state borders to keep vigil and prevent any illegal arrival of the paddy in the state. During the special checking, over 1500 vehicles/trucks were flagged down by the police teams across the state”.
Sahota said that “ADGP (Welfare) V Neeraja has been deputed to supervise the inter-state nakas to prevent unauthorised food grains and paddy in the state”.
Meanwhile, a total of 2,17,547 MT of paddy has been procured so far in the state, the spokesperson said.