SAD pegs Rs 4,000 crore as farmers' loss in 'seed scam'

A day after the arrest of a man in Ludhiana in a case of alleged seed scam, the opposition SAD on Monday claimed that farmers were likely to have suffered a loss of Rs 4,000 crore because of the supply of spurious and uncertified paddy seeds. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and former minister Bikramjit Singh Majithia also sought compensation for the loss caused to farmers in the alleged seed scam.

The Punjab Police had on Sunday arrested an owner of a Ludhiana-based store for supplying spurious seeds. In a statement issued here on Monday, Majithia said if one were to take into account that spurious PR 128' and PR 129' paddy variety seeds were sold to around 15 per cent farmers in Punjab, the extent of the fraud comes to more than Rs 4,000 crore. He said the calculation was done on the basis of Rs 30,000 crore cash credit limit (CCL) extended to Punjab by the Centre to procure paddy grown on 60 lakh acres.

The SAD leader said keeping in view the magnitude of the fraud perpetrated on farmers, the Punjab government should immediately forward the case to the CBI or hand over the inquiry to a sitting judge of the high court. He also urged the Haryana and Rajasthan governments to probe the scam and save farmers of their states who too had been cheated by the scamsters.

Majithia also urged Haryana Chief Minister Manohan Lal Khattar to order a probe into the fake registration of an address in Karnal as the branch office of a Gurdaspur based seed supplier. The Akali leader said the present inquiry into the alleged seed scam seemed to be a big cover up exercise .

He said the owner of Brar Seeds had been arrested after 20 days and a case under bailable offences was registered against him. The SAD had claimed that a Gurdaspur-based close associate of a cabinet minister was allegedly involved in supplying "spurious" paddy seeds which were not approved for sale by the Punjab Agricultural University.