We will explore sale of rice to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, says Uttam

With limited storage space and a substantial interest burden, the civil supplies corporation was in an alarming situation, the Minister said after inspecting a ration shop at Huzurnagar here on Monday.

Nalgonda: Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said possibilities would be explored for selling rice to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, besides considering open sale of paddy stocks in a transparent manner.

While Karnataka and Tamil Nadu offered to purchase the substantial rice stocks from Telangana, the previous government, for political reasons, opted to let the rice deteriorate in godowns, he said. This resulted in burdening the corporation with interest expenditure rather than selling the rice at market prices to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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With limited storage space and a substantial interest burden, the civil supplies corporation was in an alarming situation, the Minister said after inspecting a ration shop at Huzurnagar here on Monday.

The Minister criticized that the distorted policy of the earlier government, which entrusted paddy stocks worth Rs 22,000 crore to rice millers without any security or bank guarantee. The Minister warned of severe consequences against rice millers and others involved in recycling of PDS (ration) rice, according to a press release.

At present, there are nearly 54 lakh ration cardholders in Telangana and they receive 5 kgs of rice from the Central Government and 1 kg from the State Government.

Additionally, the State Government provides 6 kg of rice every month for another 35 lakh ration cardholders. Irrespective of Central or State Government, the procurement cost amounts to Rs 39 per kg.

Stating that almost 70 to 75 percent of ration rice was being recycled by millers and other unscrupulous entities, the Minister said anyone found involved in the recycling of rice would face severe consequences.

Uttam Kumar Reddy maintained that the previous government had left the Civil Supplies Corporation burdened with a massive debt of about Rs.56,000 crore.

When the BRS Government assumed office in 2014, the debt was only Rs.3, 300 crore. At present, the annual interest burden of the corporation, responsible for ration distribution and paddy procurement, exceeds Rs 3,000 crore.

Over the past decade, the corporation incurred losses to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore due to the gross neglect of the department by the previous government, he charged.

He further said that the last complete audit of the corporation was conducted for the year 2018-19. “We will expedite the audit of the corporation and implement measures to streamline the department,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.