Store head booked for pilfering 1,500 quintal PDS grains

The HP State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV&ACB) has booked a store head of the Himachal Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation posted at Dehra Gopipur for pilfering 1,500 quintals of foodgrains meant for the public distribution system (PDS). The matter was highlighted in the media recently. Thereafter the SV&ACB conducted an inquiry and found that 1,500 quintals of foodgrains missing from the civil supply store at Dehara Gopipur had allegedly been sold in the open market. The authorities also prepared a stock inventory of all goods stacked at the store. These foodgrains were to be supplied to fair price shops and cooperative societies for further distribution to ration card holders including the below poverty line (BPL) and the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) beneficiaries.

Vigilance officials also conducted a probe to establish that if foodgrains were duly unloaded at the store and necessary entries in the stock register were also made. However, officials found that foodgrains were allegedly sold in the open market.

Balbir Singh, Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, North Zone, Dharamsala, confirmed that a case had been registered against store head identified as Sanjiv Kumar at the Vigilance police station in Dharamsala. The state government has transferred the store head to Hamirpur after ordering a departmental inquiry against him. However, no arrests have been made so far.