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BKU accuses Haryana govt of shielding ₹4K-Cr paddy procurement scam, demands high-level probe
The union demanded a high-level judicial investigation into what it called a massive procurement scam, along with the suspension and imprisonment of officials found guilty.
Days after the Karnal police registered four criminal cases related to alleged irregularities in the ongoing paddy procurement, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Thursday accused the Haryana government of shielding the culprits of a ₹4K-crore paddy procurement scam and turning the probe into a “sham”.
The union demanded a high-level judicial investigation into what it called a massive procurement scam, along with the suspension and imprisonment of officials found guilty.
Led by state president Rattan Mann, BKU members staged a protest in Karnal wearing black clothes and later submitted a memorandum to the district administration.
Mann levelled serious allegations against senior officials, claiming that those accused of corruption were being protected and even assigned key responsibilities. “This proves that the government itself is encouraging the scam,” he said.
“Some officials, middlemen, and politicians are plundering the hard-earned money of farmers. Complaints of irregularities at markets and procurement centres have been made for a long time, but the government ignored them. Now that the scam has been exposed, the game of suppression has begun,” Mann alleged.
Citing official data, Mann claimed that while paddy arrivals had declined in most districts, Karnal recorded an unusual spike. He pointed out that the government had already stated that paddy production had dropped by 25–30% this season, with expected arrivals of about 40.5 lakh metric tonnes—13.5 lakh tonnes less than last year.
“However, the opposite occurred—an increase of 4.69 lakh tonnes was recorded this year. Thus, a fraudulent increase of 18.22 lakh metric tonnes was shown, accomplished by issuing fake gate passes at mandis. The cost of this fraud amounts to approximately ₹4,000 crore at the rate of ₹2,389 per quintal,” Mann claimed.
He further alleged that while the government had allocated ₹10,000 crore for paddy procurement in 2025, the expenditure had already crossed ₹14,000 crore due to the fraudulent transactions. “Fake gate passes worth ₹4,000 to ₹5,000 crore were issued, defrauding the government of crores of rupees,” he said.
The BKU president demanded that the investigation be handed over to a sitting high court judge. He also called for the cancellation of licenses of millers and officials involved, and warned against making junior employees scapegoats.
So far, Karnal police have registered four cases in the matter. Three earlier FIRs named two market secretaries, a rice mill, four mandi inspectors, a sub-inspector, and three private individuals. The fourth case, lodged on Wednesday, was filed against two rice millers after physical verification revealed a shortage of 24,431 quintals of paddy worth ₹6.31 crore.
In response, authorities have taken disciplinary action against several officials. Hafed suspended its district manager Amit Kumar, while the Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board suspended two Karnal mandi supervisors and an auction recorder last month.
Karnal deputy commissioner Uttam Singh said multiple teams were formed after reports of misappropriation emerged. “They conducted physical verification of rice mills, inspected mandis, and found discrepancies, following which action was taken accordingly,” he said.
