Kakinada port: Who are the rice thieves?

A team of key departments carried out inspections in the vessel ‘Stella L-Panama’, which was prepared with rice for export to African countries from Kakinada port.

–Galla S Kiran Kumar, Bureau Chief

Inspections on board ‘Stella L’ for diagnosis of poor rice
Investigation team collected samples in 5 hatches
Suspect samples to laboratory.. Clarification in one or two days

A team of officers inspecting the rice stocks on board the Stella

 Kakinada: A team of key departments carried out inspections on the vessel ‘Stella L-Panama’ which was prepared with rice for export to African countries from Kakinada port. On Wednesday morning, a team of 10 officials from Revenue, Civil Supplies Department, Civil Supplies Department, Police, Port and Customs went into the sea from SPF and Customs offices in Kakinada. The team left by boat and reached the ship at a distance of 9 nautical miles at 10.25 am and conducted inspections till 11 pm. Five hatches (chambers) of the ship were entered and suspicious stocks of rice were examined. A total of 36 samples were collected and preserved. From which mill did that rice come? Who is the owner and who is the exporter? Where and to whom things are being sent are collected. The samples collected will be tested at the District Laboratory of Civil Supplies Corporation, Kakinada. The results will come in a couple of days. Once it is clear whether they are poor people’s rice or not, the next steps will be decided. RI Venkateswara Rao, Civil Supplies Department DT M. Vijaykumar, Technical Assistants T. Satyaraj, P. Nagaprasad, Essays Ravindranath, Sheikh Johnny Basha, Port Conservator R. Venkateswara Rao, Customs Superintendent P. Shridhar and staff participated in the investigation team led by Pithapuram Tehsildar PVV Gopalakrishna. 

Everything is above..

Kakinada Collector Shanmohan announced on 27th of last month that there is 640 tons of poor people’s rice in the ship Stella. Two days later, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan inspected the Kakinada ports and ordered the seizure of the ship.

Rice collected in sacks loaded on board

  • There are 10 thousand tons of rice in the first hatch of the ship. Some bags were suspected and samples were collected. It was found that they came from Sri Sumukha Veereswara Rice Mill of Yanam area. Sri Shipping and Logistics which has offices in Visakha and Kakinada are exporting. All 5 hatches were collected in the same manner. There are 25 kg and 50 kg bags with Universal, Vasan, White Lily and other brands. Rice sacks of 12 companies were checked on the ship. A total of 36 samples were collected by each company, three each. 
  • Rice sacks are stacked 60 to 80 feet in each hatch. There is no staff to lift the bags and put them aside. The officials in the investigation team moved four or five rows of bags aside at some places and took samples. In the evening, 10 laborers were brought, bags were moved aside and inspections were carried out. Even if the third hatch has high reserves.. Close inspection was not possible. There is an opinion that it is not possible to collect samples effectively as regards the rice stocks at the bottom. There are also comments that going for inspection without a prior strategy has become a problem.

Samples to be sent to laboratory

Assisting Officers: Chief Officer Andrews

Andrew S. Presco, Chief Officer of the Philippines-based ship, told ‘Today’ that the ship Stella L Panama – IMO 9500687 arrived at Kakinada coast on November 12. He said that these reserves should be taken to Benin in West Africa. Suspicious of them, the officials objected and stopped it. Here, the ship loading is completed in four to five days. If it departs, it takes 26 days to reach the destination. He said that they are fully cooperating with the inspections of key departments in the ship.