By IANS,
Bathinda (Punjab) : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has raided storage depots of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in this Punjab district to check the presence of a particular variety of rice — PAU-201 — which is not recommended for human consumption, the investigation agency said Saturday.
Ten CBI teams Friday conducted raids at various FCI depots and collected samples of rice for further testing. FCI officials were also part of the raiding teams, a CBI official said.
“We had got information that PAU-201 variety of paddy was procured from farmers by the procurement agencies of Punjab government,” he said.
This variety was further allotted to various rice millers for shelling of paddy and delivered to the FCI under custom-milling scheme for the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2009-2010, he added.
“This variety of paddy had excessive damage and discoloration of grains and it did not meet the specifications, even after relaxation by FCI. We have collected the samples of rice and sent them for testing in laboratories. Based on the report, we will take further action,” he said.