Hyderabad: BJP Legislature Party leader A. Maheshwar Reddy demanded a probe by a sitting judge into the alleged irregularities and corruption in the civil supplies department in paddy procurement in the state.
Addressing a press conference, Maheshwar Reddy charged that the civil supplies department had sold 1.59 lakh metric tonnes at `2,259 per quintal and purchased 22 lakh quintal at `5,700 per quintal for mid-day meal and hostel students. When the same quality rice is available in the open market at `3,800 per quintal, why did the civil supplies department procure it at higher price, he asked.
Maheshwar Reddy also pointed out that the department had issued global tender, prepared guidelines, and formed a committee in a hurried manner for paddy procurement on January 25. When contractors from Punjab and Haryana came to participate in the global tenders, officials created conditions including they have office at Hyderabad and have registered for GST in Telangana, to disqualify them, he said
When the election code was in force, civil supplies minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy held a meeting at Jala Soudha with rice millers and fixed an additional `216 per quintal of paddy procurement. In this deal, the `800 crore irregularities took place by fixing additional `216 per quintal and it was collected in cash instead in the form of rice, he said.
