Telangana: Aleti: Minister Uttam collecting ‘U-tax’ from rice millers, sending crores to party

Levelling allegations of corruption against Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, BJP floor leader Alleti Maheshwar Reddy on Tuesday said that the former has been collecting “U-tax” or “Uttam Reddy tax” from owners of rice mills.

“The civil supplies minister and commissioner are collecting 10% to 12% paddy per quintal by short weighing it. Where is this grain going? As per my knowledge, 1.30 crore MT of paddy is being procured per annum which means around 13,000 MT paddy valued at Rs 1,600 crore is being collected additionally without any receipts,” the BJP leader alleged.

He alleged that rice millers short weigh 10 to 13 kg per quintal. “This comes to around `500 crore. Isn’t it a fact that Uttam sent Rs 100 crore for the party fund to Delhi during the (Lok Sabha) elections?” Maheshwar Reddy asked at a press conference at the BJP state office here.

Alleging that farmers were facing difficulties at paddy procurement centres, the BJP MLA said that the middlemen were illegally taking an extra 4-5 kg per bag and 10 to 12 kg per tonne, which accounts for a loss of 10% to 12% for the farmers.

Analysing the patterns of paddy cultivation in the state, Maheshwar Reddy found fault with the decision of the state Cabinet to provide Rs 500 bonus only for the superfine variety of paddy. He said that only 5% of farmers in the state would get the bonus. “Only farmers in the Krishna basin are currently cultivating superfine rice varieties,” the MLA said.

Maheshwar Reddy urged Civil Supplies Commissioner Devendra Singh Chauhan to address the issues being faced by farmers without favouring any particular region. “As a government officer, Chauhan should solve this problem promptly,” he added.

Aleti allegations atrocious, baseless: Uttam

Hyderabad: Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Reddy on Tuesday strongly condemned the allegations levelled by BJPLP leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy, describing them as baseless. He said that Maheshwar Reddy was trying to remain relevant by levelling false and baseless allegations. Uttam said that the BJP leader lacks minimum awareness on paddy procurement. “His allegation of collecting U-Tax is atrocious. I will give a befitting reply to Maheshwar Reddy after returning from my pilgrimage,” the minister said.

This article has been republished from The New Indian Express