Civil Supplies and Irrigation Minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has accused the BJP and BRS of spreading false information against the Congress government and questioned the logic behind their accusation of a ₹2,000-crore scam in the purchase of grains when the purchase made so far amounted to only ₹200 crore.
Addressing a press conference here on Sunday along with Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu, MLCs T. Jeevan Reddy and Mahesh Kumar Goud, he said the BRS and BJP leaders did not verify the figures before levelling baseless allegations. He clarified that not a single grain of fine rice had been purchased and that the government would buy any amount of fine rice at ₹42 per kg if it meets other conditions of the tender.
He explained that the global tender referred to by BRS and BJP leaders had already been cancelled. The Minister dismissed allegations of a ₹1,000-crore scam as wholly unfounded and accused Opposition leaders of “irresponsible and malicious behaviour”.
Referring to BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao’s allegation that tender rules were relaxed for the blacklisted Kendriya Bhandar, he stated it was the BRS government that had blacklisted it and later withdrawn its decision. Therefore, the present Congress government had nothing to do with its blacklisting, he asserted.
The Minister claimed that both BRS and BJP were collaborating to defame the Congress government, particularly targeting the Civil Supplies department with baseless allegations of corruption. The efficiency and transparency of the current Congress government’s grain purchasing process was evident with payments to farmers made within three to four days, unlike the “delay” noted during the previous BRS administration.
“We have purchased more paddy and deposited the money into the farmers’ accounts faster than the BRS had done,” he said. He also highlighted that the previous BRS government left the Civil Supply Corporation in massive debt, with liabilities amounting to ₹59,000 crore and losses of ₹11,000 crore.
He pointed out that the government had taken revolutionary steps, including purchasing grain damaged by recent rains at minimum support price (MSP). Helplines were also set up, and a special drive was initiated to reduce wastage and increase profits for farmers.
He also noted that under the Congress government, the price of one quintal of grain increased from ₹1,700 to ₹2,400, resulting in additional income for farmers.
