Now, farmers allege pea seed scam

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 24

Even as the controversy over the involvement of the agriculture department officials in the sale of spurious pesticides is still on, officials of the department are now also facing the ire of the pea growers from the Nawanshahr-Balachaur-Hoshiarpur-Ropar belt.

The farmers have said that after a strong recommendation, the department officials forced them to purchase AP-3 variety of pea seed of the National Seed Corporation at a subsidised rate of Rs 21,000 per quintal against the market price of 25,000 a quintal.

When the plant was to start flowering, it kept on growing vegetatively with no signs of flowering or podding. This has led the farmers to demand a Vigilance Bureau probe into the matter calling it all a scam.

Kuldeep Singh, a farmer from Nawanshahr, said, “The same variety of peas that other farmers purchased from the market has already given the first harvest, but there has been no sign of even flowering in my fields. In fact, the supplies that we got are a mixed one with at least 3-4 varieties in a single packing. We have been raising the issue with the agriculture department for the past one week but to no avail. We even tried to get in touch with Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal on his November 21 visit to the town but our associates were detained for the whole day and we were not allowed to make our point.”

Farmers Rashpal Singh, Ranjit Singh Kishanpura, Deepa Daulatpur and Joginder Singh said that they made the purchase of pea seeds at Rs 20,000 per quintal. They said that they were now facing a loss of Rs 60,000 per acre as the peas were not podding and it was time for them to start preparing fields for wheat sowing.

The farmers said that the department officials had called a team from the National Seed Corporation yesterday. “The team said they could pay any compensation. This has agitated us further,” they said.

Surjit Soeta, secretary, PPCC, alleged that while the department officials had made the purchase at Rs 17,000 per acre, they sold it off keeping a good margin.

Harbhajan Singh, Agriculture Officer, said, “The officials of the National Seed Corporation are now claiming that flowering would take place around the first week of December as this variety requires 60 days of growth instead of 45 days. They have said that they will come on November 27 to convince the farmers.”

Their plea

Pea growers from the Nawanshahr-Balachaur-Hoshiarpur-Ropar belt say department officials forced them to purchase AP-3 variety of pea seed of the National Seed Corporation. When the plant was to start flowering, it kept on growing vegetatively with no signs of flowering or podding, they said.