New Delhi,  Irregularities in paddy procurement in Maharashtra's Gondia and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra has prompted authorities to refer the matter to Central Bureau of Investigation for detailed investigation, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

BJP Lok Sabha member Sunil Baburao Mendhe had sought to know whether cases of alleged fraud and irregularities in paddy procurement centres in those two districts were reported and if the Centre proposed, or was likely to conduct, a CBI inquiry into these cases of irregularities.

In response, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Piyush Goyal, in a statement tabled in the house, said: "Some complaints like delay in paddy procurement, procurement of paddy from middlemen, corruption in paddy procurement, etc. for the period of 2020-21 were received from public representatives of Maharashtra. Looking at the seriousness of the issue, the matter was referred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for detailed investigation."

However, he did not provide any further details about the case.

To Mendhe's query whether paddy was not being procured from the farmers on minimum support price (MSP) through paddy procurement centres for the last one year in the Bhandara-Gondia districts and was being procured from the traders in the name of farmers, the Minister said: "Maharashtra has adopted Decentralised Procurement (DCP) Scheme for procurement of paddy under which, the state government itself undertakes direct purchase of paddy from farmers."

According to the statement, paddy procured in Bhandara district during last two and current Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) was 4,57,212.20 in KMS 2019-20, 5,59,101.20 MT in 2020-21, and 3,80,659.70 MT for 2021-22 (up to March 15).

In Gondia, in KMS 2019-20, procurement was 7,61,388.10 MT, in 2020-21, it was 7,20,739.20 MT, while in 2021-22 (as on March 15), it was 4,41,066.00 MT.