Hyderabad: Food and civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy warned of stern action against rice millers and others involved in recycling of ‘ration’ rice given in public distribution scheme (PDS) shops.
After inspecting a ration shop in Huzurnagar to assess the quality of rice and other services on Monday, Reddy expressed grave concern over the misuse of ration rice. The total procurement cost is Rs 39 per kg. He said, almost 70-75 per cent of ration rice is being recycled by millers and other unscrupulous elements.
"Anyone found involved in recycling of PDS rice will be subject to severe consequences. The Congress government is committed to taking stringent action against millers or any other individuals engaged in such a criminal act," he stated.
The minister noted that the BRS government had left the Civil Supplies Corporation with a debt of Rs 56,000 crore, up from Rs 3,300 in 2014. The corporation pays an interest amount of '3,000 crore. Over the past decade, the corporation has incurred losses of Rs 11,000 crore. He said that the distorted policy of the BRS government meant that paddy worth Rs 22,000 crore was given to rice millers without any security or bank guarantee. The corporation now found itself in a precarious position.
While Karnataka and Tamil Nadu offered to purchase the substantial rice stocks from Telangana state, the then BRS government, for political reasons, opted to let the rice deteriorate in godowns, burdening the corporation with heavy interest payments rather than selling the rice at the prevailing market price.
Reddy said that the last completed audit of the corporation was for the year 2018-19.
"We will expedite the audit of the corporation and implement measures to streamline the department, enhancing services to ration cardholders and farmers from whom paddy is procured," he said.
