Rs. 3000 crore scam in cotton purchases in Telangana: BRS seeks probe

BRS leader Peddi Sudarshan Reddy said cotton farmers had suffered massive financial losses due to a fraudulent nexus between traders and officials

Hyderabad: Alleging a Rs 3000 crore scandal in the cotton procurement in the State, BRS leaders Peddi Sudarshan Reddy, Errolla Srinivas, Manne Govardhan Reddy and a host of others on Saturday said Congress leaders were acting as a syndicate to manipulate cotton sales leaving the farmers in lurch. Addressing a news conference in Telangana Bhavan, they demanded a thorough probe into the irregularities in cotton purchases.

Peddi Sudarshan Reddy said cotton farmers had suffered massive financial losses due to a fraudulent nexus between traders and officials. In the 2024-25 season, around 25 lakh farmers cultivated cotton, producing 49 lakh bales. While the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) procured 41 lakh bales, private traders handled only 8 lakh bales.

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Shockingly, only 6.3 lakh farmers managed to sell their cotton to CCI, and truck permits were issued for merely 9 lakh bales. He alleged that despite the government issuing 60,000 transaction records (TRs), farmers failed to receive fair compensation, as private market prices ranged between Rs 5,500- Rs 6,000 per quintal, well below the official minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7,521.

They alleged secret meetings between CCI officials and top traders at a five-star hotel in Hyderabad during Diwali, marking the beginning of a major scam. While official records suggest that 80% of the crop was procured by CCI, Reddy claimed that only 20% of farmers were actually able to sell directly to the corporation.

He linked marketing officials to the scam, paralleling it with irregularities in the civil supplies department, in which the Chief Minister and Ministers were allegedly involved.