Karimnagar: Rice millers try to claim Rs 500 per quintal bonus for paddy

Some rice millers in the district are allegedly trying to claim the bonus of Rs.500 per quintal being provided to farmers for fine variety rice by the State government.

Karimnagar: Some rice millers in the district are allegedly trying to claim the bonus of Rs.500 per quintal being provided to farmers for fine variety rice by the State government.

Due to the delay in purchase of harvested paddy at procurement centres and the threat of rains looming large over them, some farmers had directly sold their produce to rice millers in the beginning of procurement season. Though the government had fixed a minimum support price of Rs.2230 per quintal for Grade-A and Rs 2200 for normal variety paddy, millers had procured the crop by paying lesser amounts in between Rs.1900 to Rs.2100 depending on the moisture percentage.

---

Besides procuring the crop at a lesser price, some of the millers with the help of officials allegedly generated fake documents to show that the paddy was purchased at paddy purchasing centres, in order to get the MSP amount from the government. For this purpose, they also reportedly created fake documents of farmers. Now, using these documents, some millers are allegedly trying to claim the Rs.500 bonus. Since the amount would be deposited in the bank accounts of the farmers, the millers are trying to convince the farmers and get the bonus amount from them. As farmers in some areas refused to give the bonus amounts, the millers are asking for at least a percentage from the Rs 500 bonus amount, it is learnt.

About 6 lakh metric tons of fine variety paddy was expected from the district as the crop was sowed in 3.76 lakh acres in the Vanakalam season. So far, 2.63 lakh metric tons have been purchased by the Civil Supplies department. About 80 percent of the bonus amount (Rs.13.18 crore) was already deposited in the bank accounts of farmers. On the other hand, about 2.5 to 3 lakh metric tons of paddy (both varieties) was procured by private traders so far. About 12 lakh metric tons was estimated to arrive at purchasing centres as against the 14 lakh MT to 15 lakh MT yield. Of that, only 9.56 lakh metric tons have reached the centres as of now.

Speaking to Telangana Today, District Supplies Officer G Narsinga Rao said they had not received any complaint from farmers. If there was any complaint, they would conduct an enquiry and take action against officials involved in the fraud, he said.