Lahaul Potato Society president Sudershan Jaspa quits

Mandi, February 22

Sudershan Jaspa, president of Lahaul Potato Society (a society of potato growers), today resigned from his post.

Explaining the decision, he said: “This society is under heavy debt for the past many years. Due to that we were forced to sell some properties of the society to generate Rs 1 crore amount to repay the loan of the NCDC.”

He alleged that “around Rs 5 crore amount of this society is pending with the state government for the past many years. During the previous BJP regime in the state we met then Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur but no to avail. Now in the present government we met the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on two occasions and urged him to release the said amount. But this amount has not been released yet.”

“I came to know from members of the society that Lahaul and Spiti MLA Ravi Thakur wanted my resignation from the post of president of this society. Then he will take up the matter with the state government to release the said amount.”

“On the request of the members of society I took this decision in the interest of the society today. I am hopeful that the MLA will help the society management by getting the amount of Rs 5 crore released from the government,” he remarked.

When asked, MLA Ravi Thakur refuted the allegations of Sudershan Jaspa and said “I received a complaint against society management that the properties of society were sold without inviting tenders. So, I asked the Registrar of cooperative society to initiate an inquiry into this complaint. This might be the reason behind his resignation.”

Moreover, when Jaspa had only three months tenure left as president of this society, then why should I make effort to force him to resign, the MLA asked.