CMR diversion: Govt machinery initiates steps to auction SAR rice mills properties

The government machinery has initiated measures to auction properties of rice mills that defaulted on delivering custom milled rice (CMR) in the Khammam.

Khammam: The government machinery has initiated measures to auction properties of rice mills that defaulted on delivering custom milled rice (CMR) in the district.

As part of the tahsildar concerned issued a notice some time back to SAR Rice Products located at Lalapuram of Konijerla mandal in the district. But the rice mill proprietors M Rama Jyothi and her husband Bala Krishna Prasad of Gundrathimadugu village in the mandal have failed to respond to the notice that sought payment of Rs 81.60 crore.

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As the notice deadline expired and no response was received from the debtor, a second notice was now issued on Thursday. In case the defaulter concerned did not pay the dues within the second notice period, steps to auction the properties of the defaulter under the Revenue Recovery Act would be taken.

Speaking to Telangana Today, civil supplies district manager G Srilatha informed that the rice mill in question misappropriated 2.51 lakh quintals of paddy in 2022-23 rabi marketing season and in 2023-24 kharif marketing season.

She further said that about 80 percent of custom milled rice has been delivered so far and 20 percent rice has to be delivered. Officials have identified that as many as 15 rice mills in the district delayed delivery of custom milled rice and steps are being taken to ensure delivery of rice within one month.

It might be noted that the irregularities in SAR Rice Products came to light during inspections of rice mills jointly conducted by civil supplies officials along with vigilance and enforcement officials at different rice mills in the first week of October.

A police complaint at Konijerla police station has also been lodged against SAR Rice Products management and police registered a cheating case against the management based on the complaint.

Ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Tummala Nageswara Rao and Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka have directed the officials to carry out a thorough investigation into the CMR diversion while CPI district secretary Potu Prasad wanted a CBCID inquiry into the issue.