Congress alleges ₹1,000-crore scam in civil supplies

KARIMNAGAR: Congress party leader Meneni Rohit Rao has alleged an annual scam of ₹1,000 crore in the Civil Supplies Department headed by minister Gangula Kamalakar, due to which innocent farmers are losing large amounts of money.

Congress party leaders led by Rohit Rao inspected the agriculture market yard on Sunday and inquired from farmers about the process of procuring paddy.

Rohit Rao himself performed actions that officials take up at the purchasing centres, like filling an empty gunny bag which is supposed to contain 50 kg of paddy. But the bag took only 42 kg. After separating chaff from the paddy, the weight further went down by 750 grams per bag of 42 kg.

Despite this, officials normally pay the amount for only 40 kg, treating the bag weight as 500 grams. Rohit Rao said this way, a farmer loses ₹900 on food grains of around 2.25 tonnes produced over one acre of land.

According to the state government, farmers cultivated paddy over 54 lakh acres during the Rabi season. This way, the Congress leader said, farmers have lost around ₹486 crore. For two seasons, the amount will come to around ₹1,000 crore, he estimated.

“When such a huge scam is taking place, neither Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao nor civil supplies minister Gangula Kamalakar appear to be bothered. People involved in the scam are thus going scot free,” Rohit Rao remarked.

He went on to question Kamalakar about what he is doing with regard to the scam. “Is he getting his share of the amount,” the Congress leader asked.

Congress leaders Kamireddy Rami Reddy, Siripuram Nagaprasad. Burra Harish Goud, Jeeti Satyanarayana, Jangili Ramesh Yadav, Srinivas Goud, Vishnu Vardhan and Koti were among those present.