WARANGAL: The allegation of a private godown owner Ch Dharmendra that all is not fair in the way the Civil Supplies Department officials are going about hiring private godown space, is likely to kick up a controversy. Dharmendra alleges that Warangal (Rural) Civil Supplies Department District Manager (DM) E Bhaskar Rao is not sending the correct status of available godown space at his disposal to the higher-ups, and is thus trying to avoid hiring additional space from him.
“We have warehousing space in Khanapur, but the warehouse has been lying vacant for the past two years since the Civil Supplies Department is deliberately not hiring our space. As this has been going on for a long time, I brought it to the notice of the District Collector, who asked Bhaskar Raoto look into the complaint. However, Bhaskar Rao started threatening me, ” said Dharmendra. There are three godowns with a total capacity of 14,000 metric tonnes in Khanapur.
They belong to Dharmendra and his cousin Srinivas Rao. Dharmendra says that every year, he submits an application to the Civil Supplies Department with a request to hire his godown space, but the DM would not oblige. Dharmendra alleges that his uncle Mukunda Rao and the DM have been good friends for several years and were responsible for not hiring his godown space to see that he suffers losses. He says that in 2020, the department hired space of 7,000 tonnes capacity from him, but utilised only 2,000 tonnes. When the time for payment came, the officials paid only for the 2,000 tonnes.
This is where Dharmendra smelled a rat. The DM had hired a total 7,000 tonnes space from Mukunda Rao, but when it came to Dharmendra, the DM paid for only 2,000 tonnes. “The DM has been supporting Mukunda Rao and his son Srinivas Rao by hiring their entire space for the last three years,” he says, wondering why the DM should favour one party and punish the other. When Express tried to contact Mukunda Rao, he was not available for comment, but District Manager E Bhaskar Rao said that Dharmendra’s allegations were baseless.
No need for extra space, says district manager
“The Department has everything on paper. We have not erred at any stage. The Department will hire private godowns depending on requirement. In Khanapur, there is an Agriculture Department godown with 5,000 metric tones capacity and a large portion of it remains unutilised. Then where is the need for hiring additional space,” said District Manager E Bhaskar Rao.