Telangana to audit custom milling rice system since 2014

The minister said the government's primary objective is recovery of public money and government-owned foodgrain rather than punishment alone.

Hyderabad: Telangana Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Tuesday, August 4, ordered a comprehensive review of the Custom Milling Rice (CMR) system since the state’s formation in 2014, including a decade-long audit of paddy procurement, rice milling operations and other processes to strengthen accountability across the procurement chain.

He chaired a high-level review meeting that covered procurement operations over the last 10 to 12 years, including the quantity of paddy procured, CMR receivable and delivered, district-wise and mill-wise defaults, pending recoveries, vigilance investigations and legal proceedings against defaulting millers.

The minister said the government’s primary objective is recovery of public money and government-owned foodgrain rather than punishment alone, an official release said.

Reddy directed officials to intensify efforts to recover government dues, identify systemic weaknesses and introduce far-reaching reforms to ensure that public assets are fully protected.

He stressed that every bag of paddy procured under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) programme represents public money invested on behalf of Telangana’s farmers.

Under the CMR system, paddy procured by the Telangana State Civil Supplies Corporation through procurement centres is entrusted to empanelled rice millers, who are contractually obligated to mill the paddy and return the prescribed quantity and quality of rice for supply to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and distribution through the Public Distribution System.

Noting that the overwhelming majority of millers have honoured their commitments, Reddy said a small section defaulted over the years by delaying deliveries, failing to return rice, diverting government stocks and violating contractual obligations.

The government has directed its Vigilance and Enforcement wing to undertake comprehensive verification of government stocks across the state through physical inspections of rice mills, reconciliation of procurement records with available stocks, verification of stock registers and investigation of suspected diversion of government-owned paddy and rice.

Officials said criminal cases were being registered wherever evidence of fraud, diversion or criminal breach of trust is established, while persistent defaulters may also face blacklisting and other administrative action.