Problems stall rice inspection.
Disorderly stockpiles, deteriorating quality, inconsistent IDs on sacks and mixed grades of rice are problems that have emerged on the third day of the nationwide inspection of state rice stocks.
In Pasang district in Lamphun province, TV Channel 3 reported problems with 38,609 sacks (each sack is 100 kilogrammes).
The discoveries forced officials to put the inspection on hold since they would now have to check inside every sack. In Phrom Phiram district of Phitsanulok, collapsed piles of sacks since April hindered the operation. Many sacks were threadbare and torn while some grain was rotten.
The inspection there was also put off. In Sukhothai, 254,201 tonnes of rice are being kept in 14 warehouses and documentation is proving difficult. In Kong Krailat district, the number codes on the sacks at a warehouse with 11,520 sacks were not consistent with the records kept by the National Council for Peace and Order. The sacks were also arranged too close to the walls and ceiling, making it difficult to count.
Soldiers who led the audit had to order the warehouse to be rearranged before the inspection could continue. In Phayao province, 97,259 tonnes of grain are kept at 22 warehouses and the inspection teams hope to finish the job by July 20.
The biggest problem so far was the sacks were not stored in an orderly fashion, making it difficult to count. No rotten rice has been found so far. In any case, samples were taken from the audited rice to be inspected by central laboratories. In Nakhon Ratchasima, almost 500,000 tonnes of rice are kept in 47 warehouses.
Five warehouses had been inspected as of Saturday, totalling 544,608 sacks or 54,460.8 tonnes. Initially, they found 228 sacks missing but inspectors say they could be in other warehouses.
The teams also noted some warehouses were not as clean, bright and airy as they are required to be.
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