Chandigarh, Aug 18 - Twelve tonnes of edible oil worth Rs.550,000 was seized from a house as officials of the food and supplies department of Chandigarh Tuesday carried out a drive against the hoarding of essential commodities.

'We conducted a raid on a tip-off and recovered 12 tonnes of edible oil from a house here in Sector 40. The seized oil is worth Rs.550,000 in the market,' said one of the officials of the raiding team.

He added, 'Oil was illegally stored without a license, in contravention of the provisions of the Chandigarh Food Articles (Licensing and Control) Order, 1991. A case has been registered under the Essential Commodities Act and we have started our investigations.'

The raid was conducted under the supervision of Prerna Puri, sub-divisional magistrate (south), and joint director food and supplies department.