Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], August 12 (ANI): The Telangana government has cracked down on rice millers defaulting on Custom Milled Rice (CMR) targets, with Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directing officials to intensify recovery of the full dues owed by the millers.
Revanth Reddy, along with Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, reviewed the performance of the Civil Supplies Department at the MCRHRD institute on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister said the government had adopted a cooperative approach towards millers operating with a genuine business mindset, but warned that those deliberately attempting to evade payments would be dealt with sternly.
During the review, Revanth Reddy accused the previous government of indulging in irregularities in collecting dues from the millers, which caused the accumulation of dues in the thousands of crores. The CM took strong exception to the opposition parties for blaming the present government for the recovery of mounting dues from the rice millers.
Reviewing the progress in recovery of dues, the Chief Minister directed officials to ensure recovery of the value of every grain. He also instructed them to formulate specific guidelines for the recovery process and submit the report to the Cabinet Sub-Committee.
The Chief Minister said the state government would take an appropriate decision after the Cabinet Sub-Committee’s review. He also announced that paddy previously allocated to millers who have become defaulters would instead be allocated to women’s groups, with milling responsibilities entrusted to them.
Noting the recurring difficulties in storing paddy stocks each season, CM Revanth Reddy instructed officials to formulate an action plan immediately. A pilot project for constructing silo bags would be taken up in districts with high paddy yields- Nalgonda, Suryapet, Nizamabad, Peddapalli, and Kamareddy.
Revanth Reddy said 50 to 100 acres of land per constituency would be allocated for the silo bag facilities, which would be managed by Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
He directed that a meeting be convened with the Ministers of Revenue, Civil Supplies and Women’s Welfare to discuss construction of the facilities. The Chief Minister also suggested exploring the construction of spacious platforms under the VBG-Ram G Scheme and use of German tents for paddy storage.
Officials were also instructed to identify private warehouses, function halls, old cinema theatres and other sheds at mandal and village levels in advance and lease them for paddy storage.
Principal Secretary to the CM V Seshadri, Civil Supplies Commissioner Stephen Ravindra, South India Rice Millers Association President Thudi Devender Reddy and others were present. (ANI)