Tenders for supply of fine rice may leave Telangana poorer, says BRS

The irregularities in the tender process, if allowed to go unchecked, would render the government poorer by Rs.1,000 crore.

Hyderabad: BRS leaders and former MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy and Ravinder Singh, former chairman of Civil Supplies Corporation alleged serious irregularities in the process initiated for purchase of Rs.2.20 lakh metric tonnes of rice to meet the needs of welfare hostels and the mid-day meal scheme covering Anganwadi centres in the State.

Addressing a news conference at Telangana Bhavan, they said the BRS would lodge a complaint with the Chief Secretary and the Commissioner, Civil Supplies. The irregularities in the tender process, if allowed to go unchecked, would render the government poorer by Rs.1,000 crore. The companies that have participated in the tender process had quoted a more or less uniformly a price of Rs.57 per kg of fine rice while the same was available in the open market for Rs.42 to Rs.45 per quintal. Even millers from the respective districts had come forward to supply fine rice at the prevailing rate. They questioned the need for purchasing rice at a higher price by the Corporation.

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The companies that had participated in the tender process for supply of fine rice happened to be the same ones that took part in the global tenders called for auctioning 35 lakh metric tonnes of paddy by the Civil Supplies Corporation a few months ago. They alleged that the millers were being forced to shell down money on different counts to meet the RR tax demand in the State. Officials should act as per the systems followed so far to meet the fine rice requirement from the hostels and the Anganwadi centres.

If the officials failed to address the issue at their level, it would be taken up with the CBI seeking a thorough probe, they said, alleging the involvement of the Chief Minister as well as Civil Supplies Minister in the deal.