Chandigarh, August 13, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today demanded the immediate sack of food and civil supplies minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu as well as a CBI inquiry into the corrupt deeds of the minister and department officials including its chief vigilance commissioner.
Addressing a press conference here, former minister Bikram Singh Majithja said Bharat Bhushan Ashu had indulged in corruption to the tune of thousands of crores. He said the minister was directly responsible for allowing wheat from outside the State to be procured on msp in Punjab.
He said wheat was brought from outside the State at Rs 1000 per quintal and sold at Rs 1883. He said besides this PUNSUP DM had also indicted Ashu in his chat with an arhatiya which had gone viral last year. He said the chat saw the officer demanding commission from arhatiyas as well as money to arrange Rahul Gandhi’s then visit to Punjab.
Mr Majithia said the food and civil supplies minister was also responsible for appointing a tainted officer as the chief vigilance commissioner which had resulted in a loss of hundreds of crores to the State. He said the officer – Rakesh Kumar Singla – had been indicted in October 2017 by the Principal Secretary of the department who held him responsible for a corruption of Rs 85 crore.
He said the Principal Secretary had ordered that Rakesh Singla be demoted and also accused him of diverting stock received from the centre under various schemes. “It was also stated that Singla had secured permanent residency of Canada and could have sent his ill gotten wealth outside the country”.
Mr Majitha said Ashu did not only appoint Singla as CVC of the department but also gave him charge of transportation and labour involving an annual budget of Rs 600 crore and also that of inspection of crates of all agencies.
The SAD leader said Ashu was also directly responsible for the corruption done by a department Inspector – Jasdev Singh who was a nephew of Ghanaur legislator Madan Lal Jalalpur. He said Jasdev had been given charge of eight godowns instead of two which was the norm and had gone on to misappropriate 87,000 quintals of wheat worth Rs 20 crore.
Mr Majithia said Madan Lal Jalalpur was now claiming that his nephew was not mentally well but it was a mystery as to how a mentally unsound person had sold off his properties and disappeared with his family members. “It is clear that Jalalpur is involved in this scandal and that nothing is being done in the case because he now also has the patronage of the new PCC President Navjot Sidhu”.
Mr Majithia said another henchman of Ashu – Rajdeep Singh, who was also a close confidante of Khanna legislator Gurkirat Kotli, was also involved in nefarious activities along with the minister. He demanded that the activists of all the officers as well as henchmen of the minister and mafias who were now calling the shots due to their proximity with Sidhu be probed by the CBI.
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