Millers don’t pay up, get away scot-free

About 90 errant millers using political clout as shield

Rice millers in the state have evaded custommilled rice (CMR) worth `350 crore to the state government in the Rabi paddy procurement season (2019-20), according to sources in the TS Civil Supplies Corporation.

Despite this, the corporation has failed to initiate any action against the nearly 90 errant millers allegedly due to political pressure exerted by the ruling party leaders. The strong rice millers lobby in the state enjoys political clout and moves closely with ministers, MLAs, MLCs and MPs of the ruling party.

This has been the norm even in the undivided state prior to 2014.

As per norms, defaulting rice millers should be blacklisted and should not be allotted paddy for milling in subsequent procurement seasons. But the corporation did not even blacklist them under political pressure, it is said. Defaulting millers continue to get paddy quotas for milling again from the government for the upcoming kharif season with the recommendations of ruling party leaders.

During every food grain procurement season, the government procures paddy from farmers for minimum support price (MSP). The government takes loans of over `20,000 crore to pay MSP to farmers. The procured stocks are sent to rice mills, which have to be returned to the government within a month. The government transports these rice stocks to FCI which in turn will supply them to states for use in the public distribution system (PDS). The FCI pays the state government for these stocks which the latter uses to repay loans taken for paddy procurement.

Official sources said the millers had defaulted on rice stocks amounting to one lakh metric tonnes even after one year of rabi season

2019-20. Worse still is that the corporation has not even issued notices to rice millers. Rice millers are liable for a penalty amounting to one and a half times worth the quantity of rice defaulted but no penalty was imposed.

When CV Anand was civil supplies commissioner between 2016 and

2018, there were instances of booking cases under the stringent Preventive Detention (PD) Act against the rice millers and he invoked Revenue Recovery Act for recovery of rice. Rice millers had fallen in line to some extent then but the situation is back to square one after he left the department.