They have returned 23,123 tonnes of rice so far. But, they did not deliver 5,918 tonnes of the rice till now. They were imposed a penalty of 25 percent for delaying the delivery.

Mancherial: Twenty one rice mills in the district were found to be defaulters even as officials convene review meetings to deliver the rice grains on time. The 21 mills were allotted 43,096 tonnes of paddy produced in 2022-23 Vanakalam season.

They have returned 23,123 tonnes of rice so far. But, they did not deliver 5,918 tonnes of the rice till now. They were imposed a penalty of 25 percent for delaying the delivery. After the penalty, the mills should deliver 7,297 metric tonnes of rice to the government.

The value was assessed to be 42.48 lakh at a rate of Rs 3,589 per quintal. Shiva Sai Rice Mills at Indaram village in Jaipur mandal was booked for failing to return rice worth Rs 1.29 crore on Wednesday.

Investigations were taken up, Sub-Inspector Sridhar said. Some of the other mills that accounted for a major portion of default were Kanaka Mahalaxmi Rice Mills at Kishtampet village in Chennur, Balaji Agro Industries, Tekumatla in Jaipur mandal, Mallikharjun Traders at Indaram, Laxminarasimha Rice Mills in Kalamadugu of Jannaram, Manikanta Rice Mills-Tallapet in Jannaram, Neelam Brothers Rice Mills in Mandamarri, Durga Industries- Bheemaram and Annapurna Agro Modern Rice Mills. Sources said that the rice delivered by the millers are rejected by officials of Food Corporation of India (FCI) for poor quality.

It is learnt that they mill the paddy soon after the produce is received in a season.

They then sell the rice to traders and gain huge profits. Lack of machines to sort fine rice is also attributed to the inordinate delay in returning rice. Some of the millers deliver the rice purchased from Andhra Pradesh and some smugglers to avoid the default and subsequent penalty.

When asked, Additional Collector (Revenue) Sabhavath Motilal said that steps were being taken to ensure that the millers deliver the rice grains to the government as per the deadline set by the government. He stated that stringent action was being initiated against the defaulting millers.

Published Date: June 1, 2024