BRS alleges scam in cotton procurement

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has alleged that there was a major scam in cotton procurement this season (2024-25) as there was a “huge difference in procurement details being put out by the government”.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, former MLA Peddi Sudarshan Reddy, and party leaders Errolla Srinivas, Manne Goverdhan Reddy and Y. Satish Reddy said that against 25 lakh farmers, who had cultivated cotton, only 6.3 lakh had sold their produce to the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), but the ‘tak pattis’ (vouchers issued for recording sale details) issued by the government were 9 lakh.

Against the total production of 49 lakh bales of cotton, the government had claimed that CCI had procured 41 lakh bales, when only 20% of farmers had sold their produce to the CCI, the BRS leaders said.

Further, they stated that the government had issued 60,000 TRs (trade representative or registration) and they purchased most of the cotton from farmers at a price not exceeding ₹5,500 to ₹6,000 per quintal against the support price of ₹7,521. However, the government was falsely stating that 80% of cotton was procured by CCI.

The BRS leaders alleged that the ruling party leaders had deceived farmers with fake TR numbers and most of the money released/paid by the CCI had reached the accounts of traders and middlemen/brokers who purchased cotton from farmers at a lesser price and sold it to CCI at the support price with the connivances of CCI and Agricultural Marketing Department officials.

They demanded a probe into the cotton procurement exercise with a sitting judge as farmers had lost over ₹2,000 per quintal. They cited a ‘scam’ in civil supplies (sale of paddy) tenders too. The Telangana government had sought adjournment of a case in the High Court 14 times to delay filing a counter, they added.