Chennai (The Hawk): The Crime Investigation Department (CID) at the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation is in the process of hiring more employees.
The action was taken in response to widespread allegations that staff members had smuggled rice and other Public Distribution System (PDS) supplies into other states.
Some of the department's employees who helped rice traffickers have already been suspended. It's interesting to note that the majority of the CCTV cameras in the department of civil supplies have been inoperative for several months. At order to repair the 2869 CCTV cameras in the godowns of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation, the department is currently seeking for bids.
In order to stop rice smuggling, which has become widespread in the state, the Tamil Nadu police have also chosen to deploy CCTV cameras at border checkpoints.
According to state police sources who spoke to IANS, CCTV cameras will be deployed in the Tamil Nadu border checkpoints of Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruvallur, Tenkasi, and Pollachi.
The Civil Supplies Corporation of Tamil Nadu reported that as many as 12,721 persons were detained for rice smuggling between May 2021 and October 25, 2022. Under the Goonda Act, a total of 128 persons were detained and 2607 cars were seized for rice smuggling. When trying to sneak rice into neighbouring states, checkpoints seized about 90,122 quintals of the grain.
"The corporation is keen that the smuggling of rice from the corporation is plugged," a senior officer with the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation told IANS. "We are repairing all the CCTV cameras installed in godowns and we will be employing more people to increase the strength of the Crime branch within the department to prevent rice smuggling."
(Inputs from Agencies)