HYDERABAD: The Civil Supplies department has inducted 28 highly trained police personnel from the elite Greyhounds, anti-Maoist and counter-insurgency special police force, and OCTOPUS, an elite counter-terrorism and special commando unit of the state police, into its enforcement and vigilance wing to crack down on defaulting rice millers.
Civil Supplies Commissioner M Stephen Raveendra on Friday chaired a high-level briefing at Civil Supplies Bhavan to formally welcome the newly attached personnel and outline their strategic mandate.
Recognising that public distribution is a new operational domain for these tactical units, he noted they have already completed a specialised three-day training programme tailored to departmental protocols. The above personnel were imparted training at the Telangana Police Academy in various legal aspects pertaining to essential commodities.
During the briefing, the commissioner highlighted the scale of the department’s operations, focusing extensively on the historic, record-breaking paddy procurement targets achieved during the KMS 2025-2026 season, when the state successfully procured 154 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy. He noted that the state government had spent around `40,000 crore during the last procurement cycle to support the farming community.
Leveraging their specialised training in tactical operations and surprise inspections, these deputed personnel will function as special task teams under the Enforcement and Vigilance wing. They are slated for immediate dispatch across the state to conduct intensive field inspections of defaulting millers.