Punjab orders probe into multi-million agriculture scam

CHANDIGARH - The Punjab government Monday ordered a high-level enquiry into the multi-million-rupee scam in the agriculture sector revealed through information obtained by an NGO through the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal directed Chief Secretary S.C. Aggarwal to enquire into the scam and submit a report within one month.

As per the information obtained through RTI, senior officials misused their position to splurge public money in four special purpose vehicle (SPV) projects, namely Council for Citrus and Agri-Juicing in Punjab, Council for Value-Added Horticulture in Punjab, Organic Farming Council of Punjab, and Viti-Culture Council of Punjab.

Senior officials of these projects, who were supposed to help Punjab farmers to diversify from the primary agriculture of wheat and paddy crops to newer and profit-earning fields like horticulture, have been found misusing their positions by making foreign jaunts, staying in expensive 5-star hotels, consuming liquor at official cost and wasting money on travel and other things.

Over Rs.810 million (Rs.81 crore) have been spent on these projects with just around 4,000 acres of land actually being covered under the diversification plans instead of the proposed 20,000 acres.

The RTI was filed by NGO Resurgent India.

Badal has asked the chief secretary to identify the officials involved in the scam and to fix responsibility for the misuse of public funds.