Hindustan Times (Patiala)

8 Haryana officials suspended after probe indicts them

Services of two contractua­l employees also terminated

- Neeraj Mohan neeraj.mohan@hindustant­imes.com

KARNAL: In a crackdown against those involved in irregulari­ties in paddy procuremen­t, the Haryana State Agricultur­e Marketing Board on Thursday ordered suspension of eight officials posted in grain markets of Karnal.

The orders were issued after an internal investigat­ion was conducted on the directions of Haryana agricultur­e minister JP Dalal.

Among those suspended are Karnal market committee mandi supervisor­s Ashwani Mehra, Deepak Tyagi, Jai Parkash; auction recorders Sombir, Suresh Kumar, Pardeep Sheoran, Pardeep Malik; and mandi secretary Sunder Singh.

Services of two contractua­l employees -- mandi analyst Dilawar Singh and lab executive Amit Kumar -- posted at the new grain market have also been terminated.

During the suspension, the eight officials will report at the board’s headquarte­rs in Panchkula and would not leave without obtaining the prior approval of the competent authority.

The action was initiated after detection of irregulari­ties in the inspection report, which flashed a wilful act of omission by not recording the entry of paddy on e-Kharid or e-NAM portal, thus causing financial loss to the Mandi Board in form of market fee and Haryana rural developmen­t fund (HRDF).

Haryana State Agricultur­e Marketing Board chief administra­tor Raj Narayan Kaushik said, “Eight officials posted in Karnal grain market have been suspended and services of two contractua­l employees have been terminated.”

He said the action was taken following an inquiry as there were irregulari­ties in the generation of gate passes. During the probe, Kaushik said, it was found that they had generated gate passes of 2,800 quintals of basmati varieties while the total arrival in the mandi was over 7,000 quintals.

“This caused a loss of market fee and HRDF to the state government,” he added.

The basmati varieties are procured by private agencies, but the state government had issued strict instructio­ns to mandi officials to monitor the movement of every single grain coming to the markets so that it could charge 6.5% levy, including 2.5% arhtiya commission, 2% market fee and 2% rural developmen­t cess.

A mandi secretary of Karnal’s Jhundla grain market was on October 11 arrested and four rice millers booked after the CM’s flying squad had detected a paddy procuremen­t scam of around 75,000 quintals during a raid.

Action was taken following an inquiry as there were irregulari­ties in the generation of gate passes.

RAJ NARAYAN KAUSHIK, Chief administra­tor, Haryana agricultur­e marketing board

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