Continuing to go after his predecessors over allegations of corruption, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab on Wednesday ordered a vigilance probe into the distribution of crop residue management machines to the farmers during the Congress regime.
Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said that the Central Sector Scheme of Promotion of Agriculture Mechanization for In-situ Management of Crop Residue (CRM) was implemented by the Punjab government from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
He said that under this scheme, a total of 90,422 different machines have been provided to beneficiary farmers, registered farmer groups, cooperative societies, FPOs and panchayats. Of these machines, 83,986 machines were provided by the Department of Agriculture and the remaining machines were provided by the registered cooperative societies.
“After receiving reports from many quarters about the scheme that the machines provided on subsidy under the scheme were not made available to eligible farmers, he directed the Agriculture department to conduct a physical verification of the possession of the machines provided under the scheme from the year 2018-19 to the year 2021-22,’’ said Dhaliwal.
On physical verification of 79,295 machines, a total of 11,275 machines were found to be not available with the beneficiaries.
Dhaliwal said that during the initial investigation by the department, it appears that Rs 125 crore to 150 crore have been misused. He has ordered meticulous investigation to initiate action against those involved in the scam.
The Mann government has been targeting the previous Congress government alleging that it had indulged in “corruption”.
Read the Latest News and Breaking News here