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1,865 deleted passes in 10 mandis: Gate passes issued on fake vehicle number: Probe
The team led by additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Yash Jaluka along with assistant commissioner under training (ACUT) Yogesh Saini and other officials have visited various mandis in the last week as part of the probe
Days after the Karnal district administration suspected discrepancies in the issuance of gate passes at grain markets during the ongoing kharif season, a probe team set up by deputy commissioner Uttam Singh has found that a total of 1,865 gate passes with over 1 lakh quintals of the crop have been deleted at 10 mandis in the district.
The team led by additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Yash Jaluka along with assistant commissioner under training (ACUT) Yogesh Saini and other officials have visited various mandis in the last week as part of the probe.
The ADC said that during a preliminary investigation, it was found that the deleted gate passes were issued with fake vehicle numbers.
Sources said that following credible inputs, the probe team checked the CCTV footage and other documentary records of all grain markets. Prima facie they said that the deleted gate passes could have been issued for vehicles carrying rice from other states, that could not reach the mandis, as the vehicles with those registration numbers were not in sight in the footage, both before or after the issuance of gate passes.
“The officials of the marketing committee contended that such passes must be of private purchase at the mandis, which does not seem to be true. Thus, there could be foul play in issuing gate passes. We have prepared a report and submitted it to the DC for further action,” the ADC added.
As per the data shared, a total of 1,865 entries of gate passes for nearly 1,02,878 quintals were deleted from 10 grain markets, including the highest number of entries of 773 gate passes of 42,648 quintals, followed by Indri (253 gate passes for 13,351 quintals), Nigdhu (226 gate passes for 12,565 quintals), Taraori (168 gate passes for 9,435 quintals), Jhundla (150 gate passes for 8104 quintals), Gharaunda (134 gate passes for 7,422 quintals), Karnal (76 gate passes for 4,560 quintals), Assandh (60 gate passes for 3591 quintals), Kunjpura (17 gate passes for 845 quintals) and Nilokheri (8 gate passes for 357 quintals).
DC Uttam Singh said that discrepancies have been found at the level of the market committee, for which the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) has been asked for a detailed inquiry.
Meanwhile, the Karnal Police have registered four criminal cases against four rice millers for allegedly not returning custom-milled rice (CMR) to the government, resulting in a loss of about ₹17.80 crore to the state exchequer.
The cases have been registered against Bajaj rice mill for fraud of ₹2.66 crore, Surya rice general mill for ₹1.26 crore, Rama Industries for ₹3.30 crore and Saraswati Agrofoods for ₹10.34 crore.
SP Ganga Ram Punia said that two cases have been registered at Karnal Sadar police station, while one each has been lodged at Sector 32-33 and Gharounda police stations.
“We received three complaints from HAFED and one from DFSC department alleging that the said rice mills failed to return back CMR timely. We will seek records from the concerned departments and take action accordingly,” he added.
Officials said that under the custom milling policy of the state government, rice millers are supposed to deliver the CMR to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) within the stipulated time, in this case till September 30.
These rice millers were allotted paddy under kharif 2023-24 by HAFED and DFSC procurement agencies and had to return 67% of their rice after milling back to them but failed to do so.
