Nakhon Ratchasima: The 2nd Army yesterday deployed soldiers to lock down 315 warehouses stocking pledged rice in the Northeast to prevent the stock from being moved before a large-scale inspection of the rice begins.
The locking down of the warehouses is being carried out by military units nationwide. The date for the inspection of the stock has not yet been set.
Current security at the warehouses were put in place by provincial governors, the Public Warehouse Organisation and rice surveyor companies. The army wants to make sure that none of the stock can be moved.
In the Northeast, the 2nd Army is also preparing 8,000 personnel to assist with the examination of the rice, 2nd Army spokesman Chinnakat Rattanachitti said.
There will be 100 units comprising of about 800 troops.
The soldiers will be trained in how to carry out a rice inspection as they have no prior experience in this field, Col Chinnakat.
It is also tightening security at godowns in 20 provinces in the region.
Though the National Council for Peace and Order has scrapped the rice-pledging scheme, a Yingluck Shinawatra government policy, it still needs to inspect the rice quality and quantity amid reports of corruption and rotting stocks.
The rice was pledged and then sold by farmers after they completed their 2013 and 2014 harvests.
The paddy is kept in more than 1,800 warehouses nationwide and all need to be examined, says acting permanent secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office, ML Panadda Diskul.