The state food and supplies department sealed a rice mill in Malda district on Friday for not supplying rice worth over Rs 4.5 crore to the government.

The district administration has hinted that legal steps will be taken against the mill’s owners.

Sources said the department had assigned the private rice mill, which is in Harischandrapur 1 block, to collect paddy from government-run procurement centres.

“Every year, the state buys paddy from farmers. The paddy then goes to rice mills where it is processed to get rice grain. The mills then supply the rice to the state government and are paid for their work. The government distributes this rice through public distribution system among people and also sends it to schools for the mid-day meal,” explained a government official.

Accordingly, Banke Bihar Agrotech Private Limited, which runs a rice mill, was asked to collect the paddy which was bought by the state at two procurement centres in Hazatpur and Kushida.

“They took away around 13,000 quintals of paddy from these centres, for which the state disbursed around Rs 4.5 crore among the farmers. However, till date, not a single grain of rice has been supplied to the department from the rice mill. We had served a number of notices on the mill but there was no response. That is why it was sealed today,” the official said.

The owners of the mill couldn’t be contacted by this correspondent for their version.

“An inspection would be carried out at the mill and if required, the owners would be summoned for questioning to know why they violated the regulations. Legal steps can also be taken against them,” said a source.

Ujjwal Dutta, the president of the BJP’s Malda north(organisational) district, demanded a comprehensive probe.

“It is a clear case of embezzlement. The departments should find out who is involved in the virtual defalcation of government funds. It is hard to believe that the millowners have done it without any support from other quarters,” he said.

Manik Das, the president of the Harishchandrapur 1block committee of the Trinamul Congress, said: “We do not endorse such things. The government should take appropriate steps against guilty people.”