Punjab Government has made it clear that anyone accused of bogus billing will not be spared at any cost.
“The State Government would not spare anyone indulged in cheating with public funds by fake billing,” said the state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu on Sunday.
At the same time, the Minister informed that as many as 96 cases have been registered against traders and drivers in Punjab for selling paddy brought from other states so far during the current season.
Ashu said that the Punjab police, on is recommendation, have registered a case against Rohit Jain alias Lada and others under various sections for cheating with Punjab Government on the allegations of fake billings of paddy.
“I had received information that a farm, called Watson Engineering Works located on the GT Road, Khanna, has stored paddy, which was brought from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and they want to sell this in Punjab’s mandis (grain markets) on MSP (minimum support price),” said the Minister.
He said that on this information, a team has been formed, under the supervision of senior officials of the Department. This team conducted a search operation in storage facility of the said farm and found 3,399 paddy bags of 40 kg each from the facility, he said adding that the bags were clearly marked as paddy sold in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Apart from this, some other documents have also been found in this facility, in which information related to sending paddy to other godowns and transaction of money was found, he added.