‘Tandur red gram may vanish from Gurukuls’

Metro India News | Hyderabad 

BRS MLC Dasoju Sravan has alleged that Telangana’s famous Tandur Red Gram may soon disappear from Gurukul institutions due to a controversial centralized grocery procurement policy introduced by the government. In an open letter to Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, he accused the government of pushing a Rs.500 crore centralized tender system to benefit a few private companies through massive commissions.

Sravan claimed the earlier transparent procurement system, supervised by district collectors and IAS officers, was being replaced with short-term centralized tenders aimed at generating nearly Rs.100 crore in commissions. He alleged that poor-quality imported pulses from African countries were being preferred over Telangana’s well-known Tandur Red Gram, putting the health of Gurukul students at risk while hurting local farmers and traders.

He also criticized the Rs.165 crore turnover condition in tenders, saying it would eliminate small traders and women self-help groups from the process and benefit only large corporate firms. Questioning the need for private contractors, he said the government could directly procure supplies through MARKFED if transparency was the real objective.

Referring to previous allegations in Gurukul purchases such as bunker beds and uniforms, Sravan said corruption charges and court cases had already surfaced earlier as well. He warned that people would not forgive attempts to compromise food supplied to poor students. The BRS leader further stated that a future government led by K. Chandrashekar Rao would order a full legal inquiry into the procurement process and take action against those involved in misuse of public funds.