Loss Rs 4K cr, claims SAD

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Monday demanded compensation for farmers, who, it said, incurred losses because of the seed scam even as it claimed that Karnal Agri Seeds Company, the main culprit in the scam, had registered a fake address as it branch office in Haryana.

Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia told the media here on Monday, “If spurious PR 128 and PR 129 paddy seed was sold to 15 per cent of farmers in Punjab, the fraud runs into more than Rs4,000 crore. I am calculating this on the basis of the Rs30,000 crore cash credit limit (CCL) extended to Punjab by the Centre to procure paddy grown on 60 lakh acres.”

The former minister further said 850 quintal of spurious seed recovered from Brar Seeds Store in Ludhiana had caused a loss of Rs105 crore to farmers as it would have been grown on 21,000 acres.