Chandigarh, December 31: Harpal Singh Cheema, senior leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Leader of Opposition, accused the ruling Congress government of destroying more than 500 shellers in Punjab with top to bottom corrupt and irresponsible system.
As a result, sheller owners and operators have incurred debts of crores of rupees and more than one and a quarter lakh people have lost their direct-indirect employment. But first the SAD-BJP and now the present Congress government, was not affected by it all in the slightest.
In a statement issued from the party headquarters on Friday, Harpal Singh Cheema said that due to the negligence and incompetence of the government machinery, even today, more than 500 shellers are closed since 2014-15, that were gravely affected by 201 variety of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), in the Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) of the years 2009 and 2010. These shellers have gone on the defaulter list in government records.
Not only did the sheller owners and operators lose more than Rs 2,000 crore in investment, but private and state-owned banks have also lost about Rs 350 crore in loans from. For which first Badal and Captain and now Channi government are directly responsible.
Harpal Singh Cheema said, “If the government system was free from corruption and government policies were clear and transparent, then the 201 variety of PAU would not have reached the farms in the first place, nor the markets and the shellers from there. Had it been neglected, the PAU-201 paddy stored in KMS 2009-2010 season should have been dealt with in the very next season through a new milling policy.
The condition of this paddy in the warehouses continued to deteriorate till 2014 and 2015. But since the market mafia and corruption were rampant due to large scale collusion, the governments (Badal and Congress) were never interested in resolving the issue in a just manner.
As a result, where hundreds of shellers and investors have sunk, about a 1.25lacs of people have been directly or indirectly laid off (unemployed). But the government is still not worried or upset, which is very unfortunate. ”
Cheema said that it was a game of corrupt system that under the One time Settlement Scheme (OTS) introduced by the Punjab Cabinet in 2019, relief was provided to these affected and defaulting shellers from recovery of lost goods but there was no relief for the reduced weight of damaged and dried paddy in these 5-6 years.
Cheema questioned the government’s policy and intentions, saying that if PUNSAP and other government agencies could be given a 25 per cent shortfall on the same variety (201) for long-term storage, then on what basis, the orders are being issued to recover paddy, without considering deficit quantity during the same period, from the sheller owners?
Cheema said that with the formation of AAP government in 2022, not only a high-level inquiry would be held into the whole matter but also accountability of responsible officials and employees of food supply department and procurement agencies would be ensured.
Cheema assured the entire food processing and other industries of Punjab including the sheller industry that the AAP government would root out the entire corrupt system of Congress and SAD-BJP and address all pending issues of sheller owners, traders and industrialists in the state.
It will put the industrial sector on the path of prosperity through a one-stop settlement to all long pending issues.
