Forced to buy moist wheat, agency staff ‘resign’

Perneet Singh

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 25

The chairman of Punjab State Warehousing Field Employees Union, Balbir Singh, today claimed that their entire staff in Moga had resigned after Agriculture Minister Tota Singh allegedly pressurised them to purchase wheat at the grain markets in the constituency. However, the minister has denied the allegation.

Talking to The Tribune, Balbir Singh claimed that their Moga staff had submitted their resignations to the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation Managing Director GS Bains today when after were pressurised to purchase “poor quality” wheat.

He warned that Punjab State Warehousing staff from other districts too would tender their resignations over the issue tomorrow. He said they could purchase wheat till specifications were relaxed as wheat had suffered immense damage due to unseasonal rain over the last couple of months. “We will not buckle under any pressure as our men will have to face the music later. It has happened in previous years too when our officials were chargesheeted due to these issues. We will not let this happen this time,” he added.

On the other hand, when contacted, Tota Singh denied the allegation and stated the Punjab State Warehousing didn’t make any purchase of wheat at 18 centres of Moga district today. “They did not purchase wheat at eight centres in the district yesterday while other agencies are purchasing in all the centres. Isn’t it their duty to purchase wheat? Is there any separate set of laws for them?” he said.