Patna: BJP minister Lakhendra Kumar Raushan on Monday questioned the quality of rice being distributed to poor families under the public distribution system (PDS), saying it was so poor that even pigeons would not eat it.Speaking at a meeting of the state-level vigilance committee at the Secretariat, chaired by food and consumer protection department minister Ashok Choudhary, Lakhendra alleged that rice was being recycled and urged officials to investigate loopholes in the system.“The rice is so bad that even pigeons won’t eat it. How can the common man consume it?” he said, citing the example of his family, whose pigeons refused to eat rice bought for them from someone who had obtained it from a PDS dealer.Lakhendra questioned the role of paddy procurement agencies and rice mills in ensuring quality. “The govt has a target of procuring 35 lakh tonnes of paddy. Please investigate whether mill owners were returning rice in that proportion,” he told officials.He urged the food and consumer protection department to conduct a thorough probe, fix accountability and ensure substandard grains do not reach ration card holders.Panchayati raj minister Deepak Prakash and senior officials, including department secretary Abhay Kumar Singh, attended the meeting, which also stressed stronger monitoring and transparency in PDS implementation.
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