Govt orders fresh inquiry in soil health test scam

LUCKNOW: The state government has ordered a fresh inquiry to probe the role of a top agriculture department official and a private firm in irregularities in awarding contracts for soil testing.

In November, the government suspended nine senior officials of the agriculture department and blacklisted 4 private firms, which allegedly bagged contracts for soil testing through cartelisation and forged tender documents related to work experience.

Now, the government has set up two parallel inquiries, one against a top agriculture department official and the other against a private firm.

“Principal secretary, horticulture, Sudhir Garg has been asked to conduct an inquiry against a senior official for suspected role in allowing transfer of higher bids from one city to the other while, principal secretary, animal husbandry is conducting a detailed inquiry against a private firm, that also grabbed the soil testing contact illegally,” government sources said. Though the accuracy and authenticity of tests of 50,000 samples by the guilty companies came under a cloud, the department has not been able to invite fresh bids to award contract to genuine companies so that the affected farmers could get the right results.