Chandigarh 17 August : In announcing an anti-corruption policy that is zero tolerance corruption and corruption, the Punjab government has launched an investigation into a fraud discovered by the state Agriculture Department in the distribution of crop residue management equipment among farmers.In a serious review of the issue taking note of the issue, Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal has requested that an investigation be conducted into the matter be conducted.
The dossier has been handed over to the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for a persuasion.
The minister stated that the Central Sector Scheme Promotion of Agriculture Mechanization for In-situ Management of Crop Residue (CRM) was implemented by the state government during the 2018-19 until 2021-22.
He said that under the scheme, 90,422 different machines were provided to the beneficiaries farmers and cooperative societies and panchayats.
Of the total number of the machines 83,986 were supplied by the Agriculture Department and the remaining machines were supplied by cooperative societies that are registered.
Dhaliwal said that after receiving information from a variety of sources regarding the scheme, stating that the machines that were subsidised in the scheme weren’t available to farmers who are eligible, he directed the department to conduct an actual verification of the location of the devices.
The minister stated that physical verification of the machines of 79,295 out of the 83,986 machines offered by the department have been completed until August 16th which represents 94.4 percent of the machines in total.
Of the total of these verified machines 11,275 machines (13 percent) aren’t available with those who are eligible.
Dhaliwal said that during the initial investigation conducted by the department, it was discovered that between 125 and 150 crore were abused.
He has ordered an investigation in order to take an action against those who committed the crime.
.
