All is not well with public distribution system in Barpeta

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: How come PDS (public distribution system) items and urea from Barpeta district get smuggled past the State border, purportedly to reach Bangladesh and Myanmar? Jalukbari police is investigating two cases.

The recent seizure of two trucks from Barpeta district, one carrying urea and the other rice, has led the police to file two separate cases.

On January 12, the personnel of Jalukbari outpost seized a truck (HR-58B8705). The truck was carrying 510 bags of urea from Howli in Barpeta district to Cachar. The police had to seize the truck as its driver failed to show any documents on the consignment he was transporting. However, during investigation the police found that the consignment was government’s subsidized urea meant for Barpeta district. The moot question is: Why was subsidized urea meant for Barpeta being transported to Cachar district, that too, without any documents regarding the transportation? Jalukbari police is convinced that there is something fishy with the subsidized urea of Barpeta district. A case (66/19 under section 379/411 IPC) was filed in Jalukbari police station in that connection. In his confessional statement before the police, the driver of the truck said that the consignment was bound for Cachar from where it would be taken to the Myanmar border in another vehicle. An investigation is going on.

Another rice-laden truck (AS-18C3487), also from Barpeta district, met with an accident on NH-37 at Boragaon under Gausala outpost on the night of January 17. The driver of the truck fled the scene soon after the accident. Jalukbari traffic police filed a case (99/19 under section 279/379/411 IPC) with Jalukbari police station in that connection. The handyman told the police that the rice was bound for Meghalaya from Barpeta. According to Jalukbari police, the truck had 256 bags of rice, besides 20 damaged bags and four/five bags of rice scattered on the road at the impact of the accident. The police feels that the driver fleeing the scene after the accident gives an indication that the rice was being smuggled. According to the police, the truck was bound for Meghalaya.

However, the Barpeta branch of the AJYCP (Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba-Chatra Parishad) threw more light on the matter on Saturday when it submitted a memorandum to the Barpeta Deputy Commissioner with an allegation that PDS items of the district were being smuggled to Bangladesh via Shillong.

Unless and until the investigators delve deep into the malpractice, the wrongdoers will evade arrest and continue to run the shady business some way or the other.

Also read: Public Distribution System (PDS) scam in State re-surfaces in House