BJP members on Thursday walked out of the House over the loss of paddy procured from farmers in Chhattisgarh, saying this has caused a huge loss to the exchequer.
The charge was made on the fourth day of the Monsoon session of the Assembly.
Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik and his BJP colleagues Ranjana Dipendra Sahu and Punnulal Mohle raised the lack of lifting of paddy from procurement centres and added that stored paddy is unfit for milling.
They blamed the government's faulty policies for the state of affairs.
Kaushik said the norm is to lift the paddy within 72 hours of procurement but in 89 procurement centres of Dhamtari 42 lakh quintals have not been lifted yet.
A total of 5,213 tonnes of paddy worth Rs 13 crores have gone dry, he said.
Similarly, around 2 lakh tonnes of paddy procured in 2019-20 are also stored at centres and most of it has got damaged.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister Amarjeet Bhagat said out of 92.02 lakh tonnes of paddy, 2.10 lakh tonnes are in the procurement centres. The milling is in progress.
He accepted that 5,210 tonnes of paddy have got dried. The Minister admitted that the stock should have been lifted within 72 hours.
When the BJP persisted with other questions on the issue, the Minister said he stood by his reply, provoking the opposition members to walk out of the House.