PESTICIDE SCAM - Minister shifts blame on officer, Cong seeks probe
Tuesday, 29/09/2015
http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/The_Tribune/
Chandigarh : Agriculture Minister Tota Singh today accused a senior agriculture officer of indulging in blame game on the matter of purchase of spurious pesticides.
Former Director, Agriculture, Dr Mangal Singh’s statement in a section of media has created a flutter as he has given an indication that the Chief Minister’s office was involved in the decision of buying spurious pesticides.
Though Dr Sandhu was ousted by the government, his shifting was stated today by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Shifting the blame on Dr Sandhu and taking a strong exception to his alleged “irresponsible utterances”, Tota Singh said: “It was obligatory on the part of the officer to follow the laid down procedure for the procurement of pesticides.”
Dr Mangal Singh could not be contacted.
“All ministers are directly responsible for the decisions taken by their departments. The Chief Minister’s intervention is sought only on policy matters or inter-departmental concerns. There was thus no ground for involving the CM in the present case,” he said.
Farmers, particularly in Malwa belt, have incurred huge losses owing to unabated attack on the cotton crop by whitefly.
The Congress has demanded a judicial probe into the scam, besides seeking Tota Singh’s resignation.
Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said the former agriculture director’s revelations had indicated that “everything was in the knowledge of the Agriculture Minister”.
Randhawa sought a probe into the scam by a sitting judge of the high court.
