Punjab orders probe into distribution of crop residue machines
Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Aug, 2022 11:18 AM
Chandigarh, Aug 17 (IANS) Adopting a zero tolerance policy against corruption, the Punjab government has initiated a vigilance enquiry into a scam detected by the state Agriculture Department in the distribution of crop residue management machines among farmers.
Taking a serious note of the matter, Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has directed that a thorough probe into the matter and the file has been sent to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for persual.
The minister said that the Central Sector Scheme Promotion of Agriculture Mechanization for In-situ Management of Crop Residue (CRM) was implemented by the state government from year 2018-19 to 2021-22.
He said under this scheme 90,422 different machines have been provided to the beneficiary farmers, registered farmer groups, cooperative societies and panchayats.
Out of these machines, 83,986 machines were provided by the Agriculture Department and the remaining machines by the registered cooperative societies.
Dhaliwal said after receiving reports from many quarters about the scheme that the machines provided on subsidy under the scheme were not made available to eligible farmers, he directed the department to conduct a physical verification of the possession of the machines.
The minister said physical verification of 79,295 machines out of 83,986 machines provided by the department has been done till August 16, which is 94.4 per cent of the total machines.
Out of these verified machines, 11,275 machines (13 per cent) are not available with the beneficiaries.
Dhaliwal said during the initial investigation by the department, it appears that Rs 125 to 150 crore have been misused.
He has ordered an investigation to initiate action against the perpetrators.
On December 27, 1988, the cricketer-turned-politician and one of his friends, Rupinder Singh Sandhu, had on December 27, 1988, hit Gurnam Singh, 65, on his head near the Sheranwala Gate crossing in Patiala.
Chairing a high-level meeting here, Mann said his government would be fulfilling one of the major poll promises with setting up of these clinics both in urban and rural areas in a phased manner on the pattern of Delhi.
The commission asked the Divisional Commissioner (Ferozepur division), the Deputy Commissioner of Sri Muktsar Sahib), the Inspector General of Police (Faridkot range) and the Senior Superintendent of Police to investigate the case and to submit the report within seven days.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday congratulated former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar for joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that the "right man is in the right party". He said more leaders are likely to desert the sinking ship of the Congress in the coming days.
The Chief Minister also sought a compensation of Rs 500 per quintal for low yield of wheat in the state. He said due to intense heat during this summer season, the wheat grains in Punjab have been damaged, adding it is the high time that farmers must be compensated for this damage by giving compensation.
The top court noted it was urged that simply because it was a spontaneous incident where no weapon was used, but held that this cannot be a ground to inflict minimal and innocuous punishment of fine of Rs 1,000.
