CMR ‘defaults’ flagged; paperwork missing
A report claims 3.72 lakh MT paddy diverted by 89 mills. The math inside the same report doesn’t add up, and no public file backs the totals yet.
The CMR ledger still has pages to fill.
Telangana Today on August 20 said, citing unnamed officials, that inspections by the Vigilance and Enforcement Department found alleged CMR shortfalls involving 89 rice mills and 3.72 lakh metric tonnes of paddy valued at Rs 927.16 crore across Kharif 2022–2025 — with over Rs 700 crore “recovered”, 28 cases booked against 50 millers, and 26 arrests. Those statewide totals have not been published by the Civil Supplies Department or police, and the district table in the report does not reconcile with the headline figures. According to the same report, five districts account for 41 mills, 2,69,115 MT and Rs 705 crore — leaving 48 mills, 1,02,885 MT and Rs 222.16 crore to be explained elsewhere, without documents on record.
What is on paper: the state’s own CMR portal sets out the procurement–milling–delivery chain; recent Telangana High Court orders record case-specific recovery calculations, including one matter where a 13,967.186 MT shortage for Rabi 2022–23 was costed at Rs 34.10 crore with a total claim of Rs 45.36 crore. Those are individual cases, not a statewide audit. An older CAG performance audit flagged weak mill monitoring in the erstwhile state — useful background, not proof of 2026 totals.
The claim that diversion “continues unabated” is an assertion in the report, not a dataset. If the Congress-run Centre or anyone else wants to posture about paddy while Telangana cleans up its CMR books, they can start by putting the statewide inspection and recovery statement on the record. The state’s mills, and the farmers behind them, deserve numbers a reader can check — not a mystery ledger.