PATIALA: In a major drive to check the illegal flow of paddy from various other states into Punjab, the police in Patiala along with revenue and mandi board officials have busted a major racket and registered as many as 13 FIRs and arrested around 20 persons besides seizing over 32 vehicles carrying about 822.5 tonnes of paddy, so far.
Taking a serious view of the matter, Punjab government has given clear instructions especially to the bordering districts to be vigilant against any such illegal flow of paddy or any other goods and commodities through inter-state borders, thereby causing any direct or indirect loss to the farmers of the state or the government.
The police said that while working on the Punjab govt’s instructions against the illegal paddy flow, these cases have been registered in last two days.
Vikram Jeet Duggal, SSP Patiala said that as per the credible inputs available with the police, numerous heavy vehicles, mostly trucks, carrying loads of paddy from the states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc. were entering Punjab through various interstate routes.
He said that in coordination with the district administration, a stern view of the matter was taken and various inbound routes across Punjab-Haryana border such as Shambu, Pehowa, Balbera, Cheeka, Dhabbi Gujjran, Patran, etc were identified in Patiala district. “Strong police check posts have been installed to monitor such illegal movement of trucks during the last two days. The Flying-squads consisting of police personnel, revenue and Mandi board officials have been formed to check this illegal practice” said SSP Duggal.
SSP further disclosed, "Preliminary investigations revealed that this inbound paddy is first purchased at lower rates in other states and is then transported to Punjab and meant to be sold at much higher prices, thereby giving a huge price margin to the seller. This practice causes enormous and undue burden on the state exchequer on one hand, while causing great deal of indirect loss to the farmers of Punjab, on the other. Most of the heavy vehicles carry paddy loads have been observed to be coming all the way from the states such as UP and Bihar”
"We have started booking criminal cases against all such offenders involved in the paddy smuggling racket”, said the SSP.
Notably, the farmers have been confiscating the paddy-loaded trucks entering from state borders from last few days and informing the police whereas in one case in Samana the farmers landed in a clash with the rice miller on Friday night.
BKU Dakaunda General Secretary Jagmohan Singh said, “There is no law that permits the traders in Punjab to purchase paddy from outside state. The recovery of illegal paddy arriving in Punjab from other states had thrown the light on the facts that farmers in these states are being exploited by the private buyers as their crop is not being purchased at MSP. The cat is out of bag and Modi government is left exposed. We do not want to land in tussle with the rice millers or the farmers of neighbouring state and the governments of these states like UP, Bihar from where the paddy is coming into Punjab, should also register case against the traders who are exploiting the farmers in their respective states.”