Crores Allegedly Collected from Market Yards  

metro india news  I hyderabad

Corruption appears to be deeply entrenched in the Telangana Agricultural Marketing Department. A senior officer in the Warangal Regional Zone is reportedly misusing the minister’s name to impose “targets” on market committee secretaries, demanding regular payments in the name of commissions. Those who refuse to comply are allegedly threatened with suspension or harassment.

Sources reveal that whenever this official tours district market yards, local staff are forced to make all arrangements, including fuelling his vehicle and offering money. Market committee secretaries claim they are compelled to pay commissions based on the volume of grain and cotton transactions. Failure to pay reportedly results in deliberate harassment and fabricated allegations of corruption.

Allegations suggest that during the last cotton procurement season, the same officer collected commissions running into crores of rupees. It is alleged that he justified these collections by claiming they were being forwarded to “higher authorities” through the minister’s channel. Several employees, unable to tolerate the ongoing extortion, are reportedly preparing to file formal complaints along with documentary evidence before senior officials.

Whispers within the department indicate that the officer has amassed illegal wealth worth hundreds of crores, investing in villas and plots. Interestingly, he avoids regular calls and communicates only through WhatsApp, apparently to prevent recording or tracing. Another senior woman officer is also accused of engaging in similar illegal collections.

The Telangana Agricultural Marketing Department has a total of 198 market committees. The Hyderabad Regional Zone covers Ranga Reddy, Medak, Mahabubnagar, Nizamabad, and Hyderabad districts, while the Warangal Regional Zone includes Warangal, Nalgonda, Khammam, Karimnagar, and Adilabad districts—together accounting for nearly 139 market committees. Cotton, paddy, maize, and other crops are procured in lakhs of quintals from these zones every year.

Officials allege that the Warangal-based officer operates with complete impunity. During his district visits, market staff organize grand welcomes and pay “tribute” based on the yard’s financial activity—amounts ranging from Rs.10,000 to Rs.30,000 are reportedly collected. Those who resist payment are accused of irregularities or subjected to departmental action. In a recent instance, even suspended officers were not spared; around Rs.77 lakh was reportedly extorted from them with promises of halting vigilance reports and reinstating their services.

Insiders claim that in last year’s cotton procurement alone, the officer illegally pocketed over Rs.10 crore. Under the Cotton Corporation of India’s supervision, 1.43 crore quintals of cotton were procured from 109 market yards across Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, and Nalgonda districts—reportedly the highest in two decades. For every quintal, Rs.3 was allegedly collected as commission, amounting to nearly Rs.4.31 crore.

Further, in his capacity as an in-charge chairman in certain markets, he is said to have collected Rs.2 per quintal from 80.20 lakh quintals of cotton—around Rs.2 crore in total. From 220 ginning mills, Rs.25,000 per mill was reportedly extracted, adding up to Rs.55 lakh. In another instance, 38 mills accused of regulatory violations were threatened with closure unless they paid Rs.1 lakh each—bringing in an additional Rs.38 lakh.

The extortion racket reportedly extended even to the “Temporary Registration” (TR) system used for cotton procurement. Farmers who fail to register in time are allotted temporary registration numbers, which are often misused by private traders to buy cotton at lower prices and sell it to the Cotton Corporation of India at higher rates. Departmental insiders allege that Rs.1.2 crore was collected through this TR system, with each market paying between Rs.2 lakh and Rs.3.5 lakh.

This extensive web of corruption—spanning cotton procurement, mill licensing, and staff transfers—has become an open secret within the Agricultural Marketing Department. Employees across the Warangal Regional Zone are reportedly losing patience, calling for an independent inquiry and demanding action against those involved in this multi-crore extortion scandal.