Milkfed Private Company Subsidised Urea

The Khanna Police have booked MILKFED officials, including the General Manager, and owners of two private firms for allegedly “diverting the subsidised neem-coated urea supplied by the Government of India (GoI) for farmers”. The persons booked have been allegedly passing off subsidised urea as technical-grade urea for “personal profit-making” and “causing loss to the state exchequer”.

An FIR has been registered against the General Manager (GM) and other officials of MILKFED’s cattle feed plant located on GT Road, Khanna; and the owners of two private companies — Muktsar-based M/S Indo Organics and Delhi-based M/S Manisha Trading Company.

Punjab government-owned milk cooperative MILKFED owns the popular milk product brand “Verka” in Punjab. It runs two plants, one at Bhattian village, Khanna, and the other in Gurdaspur.

The FIR was filed based on a complaint by Gurpuneet Kaur, an agriculture development officer. Kaur claimed that the neem-coated subsidised urea meant for farmers was “filled in the white bags and passed off as technical-grade urea”. “The subsidy provided to farmers by the GoI was misused for personal profiteering; and a loss has been caused to the state exchequer,” the FIR said.

Khanna SSP Darpan Ahluwalia said an SIT led by SP (investigation) has been constituted to probe the case. “Other members of the SIT include DSP Samrala, DSP Khanna, DSP HQ and SHO Khanna City-2.”

The complainant said the subsidised urea for farmers is coated with neem oil and usually packed in yellow bags to prevent diversion. The technical-grade urea, which is costlier and meant for industrial purposes, is packed in white bags.

The FIR said Ludhiana agriculture officials inspected the MILKFED plant on June 17, where 1,340 white bags (weighing 50 kg each) labelled as “technical grade urea” were found. However, mandatory details were not printed on them, it read.

According to the complainant, the reports for three samples, which were taken for testing, confirmed that agricultural urea was diverted and filled in technical grade bags. “…All this was done in connivance with the MILKFED cattle feed plant GM and other officials.”

Two days ago, the Punjab government had already chargesheeted seven officials and transferred one after an inquiry was conducted into the matter.

Meanwhile, in a written complaint to the Department of Cooperation (Punjab), Gurbinder Singh, the ex-director of Verka Milk Plant (Ludhiana), has demanded “suspension” of the GM. “The competent authority should consider whether suspension or any other suitable administrative measure is necessary to ensure a fair and impartial inquiry,” he wrote.

The FIR has been registered under Sections 2, 3, 7, 8, 19 and 25 of the Fertilizer (Control) Order 1985; Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act; and Sections 318 (4) (cheating) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of the BNS at Khanna City-2 police station.