Paddy War: It seems that the issue of paddy procurement is something that is more than what is being portrayed to public! The recent allegations on the Union minister and the opposition demanding enquiry into the events that have led to wrong numbers of paddy procurement in Food Corporation of India (FCI), is something that everyone has to take note off. Is it true that there are discrepancies in the rice stocks? Is it just the tip of the ice berg?
Paddy War
Definitely there is something fishy about the entire episode. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president & MP A Revanth Reddy on Monday demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged theft of lakhs of tonnes of rice from the godowns of Food Corporation of India. Revanth Reddy said that rice procured by the FCI has allegedly been stolen from its godowns in Telangana. He said that this was revealed when a team of FCI visited a godown in Warangal and found that nearly 25,000 MTs of rice was missing or stolen. “This was just the tip of an iceberg. If 25,000 MTs of rice was stolen from just one godown, then imagine the magnitude of theft from all other godowns. This is a huge multi-crore scam involving TRS leaders, millers and officials,” he alleged.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Tuesday boycotted the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament over a series of issues, including the Union government’s irresponsiveness on paddy procurement from Telangana and suspension of 12 MPs among others. The TRS MPs staged a walkout from both the Houses and protested outside the Parliament. They said they were boycotting the entire Winter Session, as the Union government failed to respond to their demands to procure rice from the state.
On the other hand, Revanth Reddy alleged that TRS MPs were enacting the drama of protest in the Parliament. “While holding placards, they are taking pictures of a protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue and spending a few minutes in front of the Speaker’s Podium. They are spending the rest of their time at the Parliament’s Central Hall like some students do in their college canteens,” he said.
It is being reported that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government was working in tandem with the TRS government in the state. Opposition leaders are demanding a CBI probe immediately after it found 25,000 MTs rice missing from the FCI godown.