Depot holder, sarpanch among 4 booked for bungling govt wheat

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 16

The Vigilance Bureau here has booked a depot holder and a woman sarpanch of Khiyala village, Pathankot, and two other persons for allegedly bungling a huge quantity of government wheat from December 2014 to March 2017.

They were booked following a probe conducted by officials of the Food and Civil Supply Department of Pathankot. Those booked were identified as depot holder Parshotam Lal, his wife Sonia, sarpanch Rajni and Diwan Chand of the village. Sonia and Diwan Chand were committee members constituted for supervising the distribution of government wheat among blue card holders belonging to economically weaker sections of society.

Confirming this, a senior official of the Vigilance Bureau said a case under Sections 409, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered.

Investigation carried out by the VB and officials of the Food and Civil Supply Department revealed that over 138 quintals of government wheat was allotted to the Parshotam Lal for distribution among 22 beneficiaries from December 2014 to March 2017. The accused allegedly misappropriated the wheat to be sold to the blue card holders at Rs 2 per kg. A Vigilance Bureau official said raids were on to nab the suspects.