Hyderabad: Telangana has reported alleged custom milled rice (CMR) irregularities involving 59.96 lakh tonnes of rice valued at ₹13,399 crore since the state’s formation, with cases spanning both the previous BRS govt and the present Congress govt, according to highly placed sources.The issue has come under fresh scrutiny after Civil Supplies minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy recently ordered an audit of rice mills to verify CMR transactions and strengthen accountability in the procurement and custom milling process.According to sources, alleged irregularities during the BRS govt’s nearly nine-and-a-half-year tenure involved 51.98 lakh tonnes of CMR valued at ₹11,304 crore. During the Congress govt’s two-and-a-half years in office, another 7.98 lakh tonnes, valued at ₹2,095 crore, was found to have been diverted or remained unaccounted for.Sources said the Civil Supplies Department has recovered ₹6,365 crore, involving 30.16 lakh tonnes, in cases relating to the previous BRS tenure. However, recoveries worth ₹4,939 crore, corresponding to 21.81 lakh tonnes, are still pending.In cases relating to the Congress tenure, recoveries amounting to ₹403.64 crore have been made so far, while ₹1,691 crore remains to be recovered.Overall, recoveries worth ₹6,630.74 crore, involving 28.22 lakh tonnes of CMR, are still pending from defaulting rice mills.Officials said the ongoing audit is expected to verify records at the mill level and help fix responsibility wherever irregularities are established. The exercise is also expected to expedite recoveries from defaulting rice mills and strengthen oversight of the CMR system.Telangana BJP seeks probe into alleged ₹500 crore paddy diversionTelangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao has sought a probe into the alleged diversion of govt-procured paddy stocks worth ₹500 crore and nearly 90,000 metric tonnes. In a letter to chief minister A Revanth Reddy, Rao alleged that paddy given to rice mills for custom milling was neither found in stocks nor returned to the govt as rice, causing losses to the state exchequer.He urged the govt to conduct a fair and time-bound inquiry, fix responsibility and strengthen safeguards in procurement, storage, transportation and milling processes.
