Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh): The government has incurred a loss of over Rs 1 crore because a rice miller in Balaghat has allegedly sold 4,546 quintals of rice in the black market.
The rice miller received 23,814 quintals of paddy for custom milling in 2024-25, but it deposited only 11,568 quintals of rice.
It came to light that the rice miller manipulated 6,487 quintals of paddy.
According to reports, the rice millers in the district get paddy for custom milling, but they black-market rice after custom milling of paddy.
They collect poor-quality rice from other places and supply it to the government.
Earlier, the guilty rice millers were let off the hook with a mild warning, but this year, the administration has acted against it.
According to reports, the officials found 6,487.97 quintals of paddy less than the quantity of paddy that the miller in Khairlanji had received.
Junior civil supplies officer in Khairlanji, Ashwini Deshmukh, said a case had been registered against the rice mill owner.
When Superintendent of Police Aditya Mishra came to know of the irregularity in one rice mill, he decided to bring all other rice- milling firms where a lesser amount of rice was found than the amount of paddy given to them for milling under the scanner.
There are 18 rice mills which did not deposit rice against the paddy they received.
The irregularity at the Khairlanji rice milling firm came to light on October 12 during the physical verification of stock.
It also came to light that the rice miller brought poor-quality rice from Bihar for public distribution and midday meals.
Mishra said a probe into the irregularities committed by the rice millers was underway.
The rice millers are supplying poor-quality rice for public distribution, which is a criminal offence, and such rice millers will face the music, Mishra said.
Similarly, two other rice millers also committed irregularities. In all three rice mills, including the one in Khaairlanji, 23,808 quintals of paddy worth Rs 47,58,000 were not found.
An FIR has been registered against the rice millers, official sources said.
