KISHANGANJ: Soon after he assumed additional charge of Kishanganj district, Araria SP Shivdeep Lande on Thursday led a team of cops and raided the godowns of Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State Food Corporation (SFC) at Paschimpali in Kishanganj. Huge quantities of rotten and sub-standard foodgrains were being re-packaged at the godowns, when the police busted the racket. The re-packed foodgrains were intended to be supplied for distribution among the BPL and other people under different schemes of the government, police said. The godowns were immediately sealed, the SP said.
SFC district manager J K Srivastava was immediately summoned and asked to furnish the details of the arrivals and dispatch of foodgrains during the last three months. Lande later talking to newsmen later in the day said, "A huge racket was thriving in Kishanganj district for quite a long time and wondered how the network of mafia, engaged in the racket, are working with impunity.'' In this context, he said an FIR was lodged against as many as 12 persons after three tractor loads of foodgrains were confiscated at Jokihat in Araria district.
"All three tractor loads of foodgrains were released from the SFC godowns in Kishanganj and were being sold in black-market," he added. He, however, withheld the names of 12 mafia engaged in this shoddy business at the moment lest they go underground and escape arrest.
He said huge quantities of foodgrains earmarked for BPL families and other schemes were systematically being lifted from FCI/SFC godowns in Kishanganj district and were smuggled into Nepal and West Bengal, and mafia working in collusion with officials and others, had amassed huge amount over the years at the cost of the poor and the marginalized section.
