Horticulture Dept ‘subsidy scam’ unearthed in Sonepat
The Chief Minister’s flying squad has unearthed a subsidy scam in the Horticulture Department at Sonepat.
The squad recommended the police to lodge a criminal case against nine persons, including farmers and department officials, under various sections of the BNS after verifying facts and recording statements.
The squad had raided the District Horticulture Office on January 30.
The CM flying squad Sub-Inspector Raj Singh, in the complaint lodged with the Sadar police in this regard, said following complaints regarding subsidy fund embezzlement, the team carried out an inspection of the office.
The team inspected mushroom farming and cultivation, bamboo stacking and plastic tunnel schemes, and checked records of the subsidy given to Scheduled Caste (SC) beneficiaries.
As per the records, subsidies of Rs 51,000 each were given to seven farmers — Sandeep, Vikas, Bhagat Singh, Sumit, Sitender, Navin and Surender of Bhatgaon village — for farming mushroom.
During verification, it was found that five farmers — Sandeep, Vikas, Bhagat Singh, Sumit and Sitender — did not have training certificates from Maharana Pratap Horticulture University’s Mushroom Research Centre at Murthal.
It came to fore during inquiry that one Siya Ram came in contact with Fieldman Chand Ram while he was preparing his brother Surender’s file for subsidy.
Chand Ram suggested that he could get extra subsidy if he produced documents indicating that some of his 14 sheds were owned by his family members. Siya Ram also claimed that Chand Ram had taken 50 per cent of the subsidy money from him.
Chand Ram also took a total of Rs 15,000 for forging training certificates of five persons. After this, HDO Jwala Singh physically verified the sheds. A total Rs 2.55 lakh (Rs 51,000 each) was then sent to the bank accounts of the five persons. Siya Ram disclosed that he had given Rs 50,000 to Chand Ram on January 29.
The SI said in the complaint that the subsidies had been given to the beneficiaries on the basis of fake training certificates and fake physical verification of sheds. Technical approval and sanctions were granted without proper verification of documents, he added.
Following the complaint, the Sadar police registered a case against District Horticulture Officer Pramod Kumar, Horticulture Development Officer Jwala Singh, Fieldman Chand Ram, and farmers Siya Ram, Sandeep, Vikas, Bhagat Singh, Sumeet and Sitender of Bhatgaon under various sections of the BNS. A probe into the matter is underway.Ý
