Raids yield Rs 1cr hidden oil stocks
Edible oil stock worth Rs 1 crore was confiscated in joint raids being conducted by sales tax department, the food and civil supplies department, weights and measures department and Gujarat Electricity Board in an effort to curb the sudden spurt in oil prices.

The state-wide raids were started on Wednesday after a high-level meeting between food and civil supplies and finance departments to discuss the sudden price rise of Rs 20 in groundnut oil, which touched the Rs 780 mark per tin on Tuesday. It may be noted that the edible oil prices shot up immediately after the Assembly election results were declared. The overall rise in the groundnut oil prices has been in the range of Rs 50 to Rs 60.

On Thursday about 45 teams conducted raids at oil mills, oil dealers and oil traders in various parts of the state including Rajkot, Junagadh and Amreli. Stock of Rs 10 lakhs was seized from Amreli, Rs 31 lakhs — Junagadh, Rs 10 lakh — Surat, Rs 25 lakhs — Songhad and Rs 1 lakh — Gondal.

The weights and measures department has filed 16 cases, GEB has taken action in 12 cases while massive sales tax evasion has also been detected which will be looked into by the sales tax department.

Meanwhile, food and civil Supplies minister Kaushik Patel took the stock of the situation in a high-level meeting and discussed various propositions to curb the price rise including creating a buffer stock.

Republished from The Asian Age