Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh): The rain has damaged paddy worth Rs 13 crore in Balaghat district, because of lack of proper upkeep.
According to reports, a huge quantity of paddy is kept under the open sky, and whenever it rains, the paddy gets wet. As a result, the paddy becomes unsalable in the market.
Rs 13-crore worth paddy got damaged because of the negligence of a company which was responsible for its upkeep.
Official sources said that an FIR had been registered against three senior officials of Go Green Company which was responsible for storing the paddy.
The FIR was registered against director Santosh Sahu of Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, state head Saurabh Malviya and adviser of the company Akhilesh Bisen on the basis of a complaint of Ramesh Patle, district manager of the Warehousing Logistic Corporation, Balaghat.
According to reports, the company has already been blacklisted.
Official sources further said a contract was signed with Go Green Company in 2021-22 to store paddy in Dogria, Khapa, Bhendara, Chikmara, Mohadi, Wara, Paldongree and Nandesara.
But the paddy, covered with tattered plastic sheets, was kept in the open, so the rain and sunlight damaged it, official sources said.
A huge quantity of paddy was also stolen for not keeping it properly. When the paddy was weighed, there was a shortage of 6632.48 quintals, the price of which was Rs 12,886 crore.
Because of failure to keep it properly, 39,898 tonnes of paddy were damaged, and because it was found that paddy worth 0.077 crore was damaged, the warehousing has decided to take the cost from the company.
According to police station in-charge of Waraseoni Shankar Singh Chouhan, the district manager of the Warehousing Corporation filed a complaint about the stealing of paddy and its damage.
On the basis of the complaint, the police have begun to probe the case, and action will be taken against the culprits, once the inquiry is over, Chouhan said. Balaghat is the rice bowl of Madhya Pradesh, where paddy is bought at minimum support price.
