Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister  Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Saturday said that bogus billing is rampant in the State causing loss to state exchequer and filling private coffers.

After the second round of inspections conducted by the department, he said round tripping and fake sale purchases are intolerable and will have to stop completely. "State government will leave no stone unturned to curtail it," he said in a statement.

The minister informed that raids conducted on Saturday in the rice mills falling in Jalalabad district, Fazilika  and Zira district in Firozpur  have unearthed 23500 bags of rice stacked in two mills of the area while 91000 bags of illegally stored rice were unearthed by the departmental teams on Thursday.

A raid at a rice mill in Zira found 15000 bags of grade A paddy (35 kg each) amounting to 7000 bags of rice and 8500 bags weighing 50 kg each of last year's grade A rice were found illegally stored in the Mill. The owner did not possess requisite documents to validate the sources of the procured paddy and rice.

Similarly in Jalalabad on a tip-off, the team found 8000 bags of rice stored in a Plywood Factory.

The efforts are afoot to verify the owner.  A raid was also conducted at Zira where in the Miller locked the premises and fled.

The Food and Civil Supplies Minister said that the involvement of substantial number of Millers in the illegal hoarding of previous years rice procured through black market at cheaper price with the intent to circulate the same in the ensuing kharif marketing season  shows that the 'malice is deeply rooted in the system.' We are conducting raids and if they need be a bigger "surgical strike" will be made to clean the system, he said.