Raipur . The Chhattisgarh Assembly witnessed a huge uproar on Tuesday over the issue of paddy procurement and storage. Leader of the Opposition Dr. Charandas Mahant moved an adjournment motion over reports of rats eating the stored paddy, which was rejected by the Chair. Following this, opposition MLAs began shouting slogans and creating a ruckus in the House, with several members even entering the sanctum sanctorum.

Presenting the adjournment motion, Leader of the Opposition Dr. Charandas Mahant said that rats are eating the paddy produced by the hard work of farmers, which is a serious matter and should be discussed immediately in the House. Supporting this demand, Kharsia MLA Umesh Patel said that reports of rats damaging paddy are coming from several districts of the state.During this, former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel targeted the government, saying that a government that claims good governance has committed a major misstep. He alleged that a shortage of approximately 2.271 million quintals of paddy has been detected, resulting in losses worth crores of rupees. He sarcastically said that government employees are maligning rats to hide their own negligence.

Responding to the opposition's allegations, Food Minister Dayal Das Baghel stated that 14.9 million metric tons of paddy has been purchased from approximately 2.5 million farmers in the state, and that payments totaling ₹46,277 crore have been made to the farmers. He clarified that the claims of rats eating the paddy are completely false.
The minister stated that approximately 67,000 tons of paddy has been stored safely at paddy collection centers and that show-cause notices have been issued to 78 employees in connection with the matter. He also stated that rice mills do not have any remaining paddy and the process of collecting rice is ongoing.