Diversion of paddy raises question over official monitoring

Karimnagar: Diversion of government-procured paddy from rice mills has raised serious questions over monitoring by Civil Supplies, Task Force and Vigilance officials, despite multiple layers of supervision.

The State government spends hundreds of crores of rupees in procuring paddy from farmers and entrusts rice mills with custom milling. Civil Supplies officials are responsible for monitoring the stocks. The District Civil Supplies Officer is required to visit five mills every month. Other officials, including DTs and FAs, are also expected to conduct regular inspections, maintain tour diaries and submit reports on paddy stocks and Custom Milled Rice (CMR) deliveries.

However, during a recent inspection, Vigilance and Enforcement officials reportedly found that around Rs 87 crore worth of paddy was missing from three rice mills in Jagtial district. A case was registered against the mill owner.

In one instance, the person who leased Aditya Rice Mill at Durshed had a CMR liability of Rs 6.11 crore for 2022-23 but paid only Rs 59 lakh. He allegedly sold the mill machinery without clearing the remaining dues. The premises are now reportedly being used as a tyre godown. In another case, Civil Supplies and Task Force officials raided Tirumala Industries at Rampur in Huzurabad mandal and seized 300 quintals of ration rice. Two tractor-trailers carrying ration rice were also seized.

These incidents have triggered allegations of serious lapses in monitoring. Questions have been raised over how machinery was sold and stocks allegedly diverted without timely intervention by officials. The lack of regular scrutiny of electricity consumption, broken rice output and rice husk stocks has also come under criticism.

The Vigilance and Enforcement department is expected to conduct surprise inspections and report the irregularities detected to the government. The latest findings have cast doubt on whether rice mills were adequately monitored in previous years.

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The Hans India