Wanaparthy: Rachala Yugandhar Goud, State chairman of BC Political JAC, on Thursday appealed to the government to act against District Civil Supplies Officer (DSO) Kashi Vishwanatham, who is allegedly involved in massive corruption by collecting crores in the guise of grain procurement in the district. He submitted a complaint to the Collector on the day.

Goud said although there have been numerous news reports over the past few months about the DSO’s corruption and irregularities, senior officials had remained unresponsive. He questioned why, despite having evidence of grain being allotted to the mills without electricity and machinery, senior officials were protecting the DSO.

The public suspect whether higher officials are also complicit in the illegal activities. He questioned how officials, who claim they do not allocate grain to blacklisted mills or to those with PDS rice seizure cases, are blatantly violating norms by allocating grain to the association leaders and big mill owners. “Why is there one rule for small millers and another for big ones?” Goud asked. He alleged that the district Civil Supplies officials were misleading top-level officers for money and were ready to do anything for a price.

In Wanaparthy mandal grain was allocated to a rice mill that did not have full machinery or even an electricity connection. Recently, the Vigilance and Enforcement officers found that 47,000 sacks of grain were diverted from such mills. He stated that it’s shocking that the officials were unaware for a year that milling machinery was removed.

Goud revealed that a private individual is effectively running operations within the district Civil Supplies department and demanded a full-scale investigation and action against those responsible. He said complaints regarding DSO’s corruption were submitted to the collector, the Civil Supplies commissioner, and DG of Vigilance. He would complain to the CM about the senior officials who are encouraging corrupt officers.