PDS Rice Racket Busted in Telangana

• ■ PDS Rice Recycled, Sold at Rs 100 a Kg
• ■ 26-kg Rice Bags Weigh Just 24 kg
• ■ PDS rice is being colored and polished before being sold in branded bags in the open market
• ■ A bag labelled as containing 26 kg actually contains only 24 kg 
• ■ Consumers are being openly cheated
• ■ Civil Supplies, Vigilance, and police teams conducted surprise raids on rice depots in LB Nagar and Karmanghat

metro india news  I hyderabad

The Civil Supplies Department, Vigilance Department, and police jointly launched surprise raids on several rice depots in Karmanghat, within the LB Nagar constituency of Ranga Reddy district and caught traders illegally recycling Public Distribution System (PDS) rice by processing it and selling it as fine-quality rice.

Vigilance Teams focused their attention on retail and wholesale rice depots in the Karmanghat area. Acting on the instructions of Vigilance Commissioner Stephen Raveendra, around 10 to 12 special teams conducted simultaneous raids under the leadership of Vigilance SP Ram Kumar, Siddeshwar Rao, and LB Nagar ACP Ravinder Reddy.

As soon as the officials' vehicles arrived, several traders allegedly involved in illegal activities shut their shops and fled.

PDS rice sold at Rs 100 per kg

Inspections revealed that rice distributed by the government to economically disadvantaged families through the ration system was allegedly being purchased at low prices, recycled and polished in mills, and then sold in the open market in branded corporate packaging for Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kilogram.

Officials searched depots including Shubham Traders, Lakshmi Narasimha Traders, and KL Traders in Karmanghat and collected rice samples for examination. They also found that several depots were operating without trade licences.

Vigilance SP Ram Kumar warned that strict action would be taken against traders involved in illegal practices. “We have conducted more than 30 raids in the Karmanghat area this year alone. Strict action will be taken against traders who create artificial shortages of essential commodities and sell them at inflated prices,” he said.

He also urged consumers to check the weight and quality of goods when purchasing them and to report any instances of cheating to the authorities without hesitation.

Uttam Cracks Whip on Rice Mills 

The crackdown ordered by Civil Supplies Minister Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy has now exposed a three-layer fraud by rice mills and depots across Telangana - polishing coarse Doddu rice as fine Sanna rice, buying PDS ration rice in black and repolishing it as premium rice, and then selling it in branded bags with a 26 kg print that actually contains less than 25 kg to evade GST.

On Wednesday Civil Supplies and Vigilance teams in simultaneous raids busted a major racket in Karmanghat, Hyderabad. Officials found rice depots polishing PDS rice and repacking it as branded fine rice sold at Rs 80 to Rs 100 per kg in open market. Samples have been lifted for lab test. 

Several shop owners shut shutters and fled on seeing officials, Saroornagar Police said.

This follows the larger statewide CMR scam for Kharif 2025-26. According to CID:

 •  Government procured 71.86 lakh MT paddy for 59.60 lakh MT rice target to FCI.

 •  Preliminary inquiry found irregularities in 19 districts, mainly Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Mulugu, Medak, Rangareddy, Nalgonda.

 •  In just 3 districts, 16 mills delivered 3,385.82 MT of coarse rice against fine rice allotment, causing Rs 1.69 crore bonus loss. Overall diversion probed is nearly 1 lakh MT out of 1.67 lakh MT fine rice quota, with potential loss of Rs 242 crore if not stopped. 45,414 MT paddy allotment was frozen to prevent further loss.