Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president and Lok Sabha Malkajgiri MP 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.
Referring to the statement made by Union Agriculture Minister Piyush Goyal in the Rajya Sabha saying that discrepancies were found in the rice stocks and registers when the central teams went for a physical verification, he said that the centre should have ordered a CBI probe then and there itself.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, Revanth Reddy said that rice procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has allegedly been stolen from its godowns in Telangana. He said this was revealed when a team of FCI visited a godown in Warangal and found that nearly 25,000 MTs of rice were missing/stolen.
“This was just the tip of an iceberg. If 25,000 MTs of rice were 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.
Stating that the BJP Government was working in tandem with the ruling TRS government in Telangana, Revanth claimed said that the Centre should immediately ordered a CBI probe after it found 25,000 MTs rice missing from the FCI godown.
He added that the Centre must investigate as to why there was a huge gap in the actual procurement and the figures furnished by TRS Govt. “However, all irregularities were hushed up with both TRS and BJP leaders stating fresh dramas on paddy procurement,” he alleged.
Revanth Reddy said that the congress is seeking the appointment of Agriculture Minister Piyush Goyal to seek CBI probe in the paddy procurement scam. “It is strange that TRS leaders get Piysh Goyal’s appointment within no time. But the union Minister is not giving appointment to the Congress MPs,” he said.
The TPCC Chief said that the TRS Govt did not meet the target in paddy procurement in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020. “The government is short by 25% of its target in those three years,” he added.
He reiterated the allegation that KCR is implementing all the provisions of repealed controversial farm laws in telangana to help Adani and Ambani. “The announcement made by KCR that there won’t be any procurement centres in the Yasangi season clearly means that the farmers would be forced to sell their produce directly to the corporates. In this scenario, lakhs of farmers will not be able to insist on MSP for their produce and they will be forced to accept whatever price is offered by the big corporates,” he said.
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.