An investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation should be ordered into alleged scams amounting to crores of rupees in the appointments and construction works at the Pantnagar university during the past two years and the functioning of the Uttarakhand Seeds and Tarai Development Corporation limited (USTDCl) since 2008 to the present. This demanded was raised by the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Ganesh Upadhyay who met chief minister Harish Rawat in Dehradun today to explain aspects of the issue in question on Monday. Meeting the chief minister in the state capital, the PCC general secretary expressed concern citing the regularity with which the media is reporting about the appointments made in the Pantnagar university in an improper manner.
“The image of the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) which was once considered to be holding the number one position among similar institutions in the Asian region is being tainted and its level is also deteriorating.
This in turn is also exerting a negative impact on the State Government.” Referring to the Uttarakhand Seeds and Tarai Development Corporation, he said that the workers there had not received their wages for the past five months while Rs 25 crore payment to farmers for the seeds they had produced is also awaited to be cleared.
There was a time when the corporation had a fixed deposit amounting to Rs 13 crore which is being misused at present. This corporation used to make an annual saving of about Rs 1 crore even after disbursal of salaries to its 300 employees.
However, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent at present that while the farmers are awaiting payment for their seeds, the workers of the corporation are not even receiving their salaries,” he pointed out, while also requesting the chief minister to facilitate disbursal of salaries to the workers before the festival of Deepawali.