Hyderabad: Alleging large-scale corruption by some of the close aides of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in supplying fine quality rice to welfare hostels in the state, Telangana TD working president and MLA A. Revanth Reddy, has demanded a vigilance probe.
Addressing the media on Sunday at the NTR Trust Bhavan office, Mr Revanth Reddy said the ‘rice mafia’ was hand in glove with civil supplies officials, and it was simply polishing ordinary coarse variety rice and supplying the same to welfare hostels in the name of fine variety (sanna biyyam) rice.
Some relatives of the Chief Minister, including the owner of a newspaper, were involved in the scam, he said.
He said the rice being supplied by the government had no protein value due to the polishing of the coarse variety, and this was causing immense harm to the health of the people who consumed it, especially the lakhs of students staying in welfare homes and hostels.
Mr Revanth Reddy said the CM had earlier challenged the TD to make any complaint on corruption and promised that he would initiate a probe immediately.
“Now, I am demanding that the CM institute a probe into this scandal, which involves hundreds of crores of corruption and a major loss to the exchequer,” he said.
He also asked the CM and his family to visit any of the welfare hostels in the state and taste rice supplied there.
