The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday held Parkash Singh Badal-led Government responsible for creating “mess” in the wheat procurement. The party claimed that although more than 40 lakh tonnes of wheat has already been procured, not a single penny was paid even after 20 days to the farmers, who were forced to commit suicide due to heavy financial debt.
“Yesterday, itself five of the farmers were forced to take the extreme step of suicide in Malwa region, as they lost all hopes from the state government for getting their dues on time and pay back their debt,” said Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann. He said that he received reports that in almost all mandis, there was complete chaos due to non-lifting of the procured crop to pave way for new arrival of wheat.
“Non-seriousness and cruelness by Badals could be evident from the fact that Chief Minister did not give any heed to the request of AAP national convener an Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who urged him for postponement of the recovery of debt from farmers till the formation of next government in Punjab, so that peasantry could be stopped from committing suicide,” Mann said.
Demanding probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by sitting Judge of the Supreme Court into the embezzlement of funds worth `12,000 crore by the state government, Mann said that the Centre should issue a “white paper” on this scam, as the people should know how Badals looted Punjab.
Instead of clarifying his role in embezzlement of funds, Badals rushed to the Prime Minister with a ‘bowl’ to bag money for the money for procurement, which was otherwise right of the State.
Since Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Pratap Kairon, who is also son-in-law of Chief Minister, has already admitted diversion of `900 crore of procurement money for Atta-Dal scheme, “why he should not be booked for such illegal diversion and State Government should be made accountableIJ” Mann quipped.
Quantum of embezzlement was so serious that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report mentioned that registration numbers of the trucks, on which the food grain was transported, were found fake during audit, pointed Mann while adding that even some of the truck numbers were found of two wheelers.
“Thank God, Badals have not accused the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and other banks for indulging into discrimination with Akali Dal for not issuing the Cash Credit limit (CCl) to Punjab,” he added.