Telangana Government Cracks Whip on Defaulting Rice Millers

In the Indian state of Telangana, the government buys paddy from farmers and gives it to rice millers to turn into rice that is shared with people.

Some millers did not give back the rice they owed the government, which is called defaulting.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy held a review meeting and told officials to recover all the money and rice that is owed.

He said the government will be kind to honest millers but strict with those who try to cheat.

The Chief Minister thinks the previous government did not collect the dues properly, so the unpaid amounts grew into thousands of crores of rupees.

He also ordered a big audit of the rice program going back to 2014.

Paddy that used to go to millers who did not pay will now be given to women's groups to process instead.

The government also plans to build special storage silo bags in five districts so the paddy does not go bad.

A group of ministers will review the guidelines before the final decision is made.