Banur, August 6
Cooperation minister, Punjab, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, has ordered a probe into allegations that the wheat stocked for the atta-dal scheme had been pilfered from Markfed’s Banur godown. This inquiry will be independent of the checking being carried out at the godown by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.
“I have asked GM of Markfed G.S Grewal to submit a detailed report. The report of the vigilance bureau is also awaited. Strict action will be taken against all those found to be involved in the case,” said Capt Kanwaljit Singh.
Meanwhile, the counting and weighing of sacks stored at the godown continued for the third day today. Findings of the three days of counting have led the bureau team to conclude that almost five quintals of wheat is missing per block of stacked sacks. (Each block has a little over 3,000 sacks piled up). “More than 4,300 sacks were checked today and 63 bags were found to be weighing less than the stipulated weight,” said Shiv Kumar, SSP, Vigilance, Patiala. He said a formal report in this regard is likely to be ready by tomorrow evening and further action will be initiated thereafter.
Sources in the bureau hinted that the team at Banur had gathered concrete evidence of pilferage of wheat meant for the atta-dal scheme and “many other interesting details have also tumbled out.”
The checking of wheat sacks at the godown in Banur by the bureau also revealed severe internal squabbling among some officials of the federation. These officials blamed each other for the pilferage.
Uttam Singh, a former field officer of the federation, who had remained posted at the Banur godown, today threatened to commit suicide if district manager of Markfed, Patiala, H.S Bains, harassed him or levelled false allegations against him. Yesterday Bains had blamed Uttam Singh for approaching the bureau for the checking of wheat stocked at the godown alleging that Uttam Singh had pilfered and damaged wheat stocks of Markfed in the past.
Uttam Singh told mediapersons at the Banur godown today that Bains was trying to shift the focus of the inquiry from the atta-dal scheme to some other issue.
Bains had alleged that the stock under the charge of Uttam Singh had got completely damaged and was under liquidation. Denying these allegations Uttam Singh said he could discharge the stock only when it was requisitioned. “If the stock is not requisitioned and kept stored, it was bound to get spoilt”, he said.
Anil Kumar Sharma, DSP (Vigilance), who is heading the team at Banur, said Uttam Singh had approached the bureau today alleging that Naseeb Singh, custodian of the godown, had threatened him and he feared for his life.
Markfed MD G.S Grewal, however, could not be contacted.
