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Congress alleges ₹4k-cr paddy procurement scam in Majha, Seeks probe by House panel
Fatehgarh Churian MLA Tript Bajwa brought up the matter during the zero hour, alleging a ‘loot’ in paddy purchase in Majha.
The Opposition Congress on Friday alleged a ₹4,000-crore scam in paddy procurement payments to farmers in the Majha region and called for formation of a House committee to probe the matter.
Former minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa led the attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in the assembly on the final day of the budget session. In the absence of food and civil supplies minister Lal Chand Kataruchak, cabinet minister Aman Arora, who is AAP’s state chief, defended the government. Rejecting all allegations, he said that neither the government nor the department had received any written complaints regarding this matter.
Fatehgarh Churian MLA Tript Bajwa brought up the matter during the zero hour, alleging a ‘loot’ in paddy purchase in Majha. He said there were allegations that farmers were paid between ₹1,700 and ₹2,100 per quintal for the produce which was billed at minimum support price (MSP) of ₹2,300 per quintal by procurement agencies.
“It is a ₹4,000 crore (scam). Will the government investigate who embezzled this money? There are allegations that this money was used during the recent Delhi elections,” the Congress leader said.
Responding to the allegations, Arora said all payments for paddy were made into farmers’ bank accounts as per the MSP. “As this matter was raised earlier as well, I checked it. If any farmer, in connivance with some arhtiya, sold his produce with high moisture with a cut in rate, the government would not know anything,” he said, promising action in case of a complaint.
LoP Bajwa demanded that a House committee be constituted to probe the matter. Arora, however, asserted that for such a committee to be formed, there should be a complaint first. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan said there was already an agriculture committee, and a representation could be given to it.
Partap Bajwa said Tript Bajwa is the senior-most member of the House and a respectable former minister, and his statement should be treated as a complaint. Arora accused the opposition of using ‘zero hour’ for ‘political finger-pointing’. “Where is the evidence of any wrongdoing? Is this a joke?” he asked the Congress leaders.
Earlier, Congress MLA from Kapurthala Rana Gurjeet Singh and Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh questioned the AAP government’s actions. Rana Gurjeet criticised how the protesting farmers were removed from their protest sites (Shambhu and Khanauri borders), claiming that it caused resentment among the people.
He said the family members and close associates of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal should be allowed to meet him, ‘wherever’ he has been kept. Pargat Singh inquired about the fate of the Punjab government’s knowledge-sharing agreement with the Delhi government.
Calling the agreement ‘unconstitutional’, he sought clarity whether the government would continue the agreement under the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Delhi or cancel it. The Punjab government signed the agreement with the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in 2022.
Later in a post on micro-blogging platform X, LoP Bajwa said that with a brute majority in the House, the AAP managed to escape without answering questions raised by the Congress. “Congress MLAs raised all the genuine issues, but these questions were left unaddressed by the @AamAadmiParty govt. It used all the tools to strangulate the opposition’s voice...” he claimed in the post.
