Rs.1000 cr scam in paddy procurement every year: Congress

KARIMNAGAR: Congress leader Meneni Rohit Rao alleged that a huge scam of around Rs 1,000 crores had been taking place in the civil supplies department headed by minister Gangula Kamalakar every year by exploiting paddy farmers in the state.

The Congress leaders led by Rohit Rao on Monday inspected the agriculture market yard in Karimnagar City and enquired the farmers about the process of paddy procurement at the purchasing centre here.

To check the weighing process, Rohit Rao and the other Congress leaders took an empty gunny bag of 50 kg capacity as per the officials, and filled it with paddy which weighed 42 kg only. After separating the chaff from the paddy, the waste (chaff) weighed around 750 grams per bag of 42 kg.

Normally, the officials are paying for only 40 kgs of paddy per bag to farmers by deducting 750 grams of chaff (waste), 500 grams of bag’s weight and another 750 grams in the name of wastage, totalling 2 kgs of deduction per bag. Due to this atrocity, farmers were losing money for around 2.25 quintals of paddy produced in one acre, Rohit Rao alleged.

According to the state government, paddy was cultivated on around 54 lakh acres this rabi season. In that case, the farmers lost around Rs 486 crores and for two seasons, it would amount to around Rs 1,000 crores. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao nor the concerned civil supplies minister Gangula Kamalakar were not taking any action against the responsible persons when such a huge scam is taking place in the state.

Rohit Rao questioned the inaction by Minister Gangula Kamalakar when such huge irregularities had been taking place every year in his department. Expressing his doubt the whether the minister was getting his share of the amount from the scam, Rohit Rao demanded Gangula’s resignation.

Congress leaders Kamireddy Rami Reddy, Siripuram Nagaprasad, Burra Harish Goud, Jeeti Satyanarayana, Jangili Ramesh Yadav, Srinivas Goud, Vishnu Vardhan and Koti were present.