Chandigarh, June 27 (IANS) Punjab BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon on Saturday termed the subsidised urea fertiliser supplied by the Central government for farmers in Punjab as not merely an administrative failure of the state AAP government, but a major corruption racket operating under official patronage.

He said thousands of bags of subsidised urea reaching government plants such as Markfed and Milkfed could not have happened without government collusion and protection at higher levels. Dhillon demanded an impartial CBI probe into the entire matter.

Dhillon said the Central government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is providing subsidised urea by spending crores of rupees to reduce the financial burden on farmers.

He added that the Centre is making a 45-kg bag of fertiliser available to farmers at just Rs 266 instead of Rs 2,800, while on the other hand, with the backing of the Punjab government, the fertiliser mafia was allegedly robbing farmers of this benefit by diverting the subsidised fertiliser to government plants and factories.

He said it was deeply shameful that thousands of bags of subsidised fertiliser reached four government plants without documentation or batch numbers. This, he said, clearly indicated that such a large scam could not have occurred without the involvement of senior government officials and political patrons.

Dhillon further stated that he had earlier raised the issue of the shortage of urea and DAP fertilisers with the Central government.

The BJP-led Central Government, he said, supplied fertiliser in excess of farmers’ requirements. However, the diversion and alleged scam involving subsidised fertiliser meant for farmers proved that a corrupt government was functioning in the state.

The state BJP President added that merely registering cases against private companies would amount to eyewash in such a major scam.

He said the state government is directly responsible and demanded a CBI investigation, along with strict action against all those found guilty, so that the truth behind the scam comes to light.

–IANS

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