Civil Supplies Commissioner C.V. Anand, IPS, has informed that an Enforcement Wing was constituted with five teams of retired officials drawn from Police, Commercial Taxes, Revenue and Food Corporation of India with four members in each team to check irregularities in the Department.
The Commissioner handed over appointment letters to the officials posted in the Enforcement wing on Sunday at Civil Supplies Bhavan. He exhorted the team members to work sincerely for the purpose for which the wing was established and strive to enhance the prestige of the Civil Supplies Department. The main activities of the Corporation are procurement of paddy under Minimum Support Price operations, milling of paddy under CMR, procurement of fine rice from rice millers for government hostels and schools under Mid-day-Meals Scheme besides PDS and so on. Though the annual turnover of the Corporation was Rs 10,000 crore, the shortage of staff was coming in the way of its efficient functioning, Anand said.
The Enforcement wing was booking cases under provisions of Essential Commodities Act and Police Department was filing cases against those indulging in diversion of PDS stocks worth crores of rupees, habitual offenders and blackmarketeers. Inspite of all the measures being taken to control diversion of stocks, instances of diversions are still coming to notice in one district or the other. It was not expected that the department was crippled due to luck enforcement and intelligence collection machinery. To overcome this, CCS has formed five teams with four members in each on contract basis for a period of one year. Each team will be headed by a Retd. SP with one Tahsildar, one DCTO/ACTO and one inspector, sub-Inspector with a hired vehicle and all the teams shall be under the overall control and supervision of Sampath Kumar, Retd SP Head Quarter team. The expenditure on the enforcement wing will be met from the administrative charges being allowed as pre CMR costing sheet of the Centre.
The enforcement teams were entrusted with the work of checking at field level, diversion of PDS stocks, inspection of private godowns, transportations, changes noticed prior and after installation of e-Pos devices, functioning of GPS, SCM. The teams will conduct inspections all over the State, file cases and report to Collectors and Commissioner of Civil Supplies from time to time. The teams will also process PD Act cases to be booked against habitual offenders and also cancellation of licenses depending upon value of stocks and seriousness of the offences. (NSS)