Congress farmers' wing raids Talaja market yard

RAJKOT: Continuing the heat on tuver procurement scam, members of Congress’ farmers wing raided a market yard in Talaja town of Bhavnagar district on Sunday and claimed to have unearthed more irregularities.

The scam of procurement of low quality tuver at minimum support price by government agency was busted in Keshod and Visavadar taluka of Junagadh district last week.

The procurement process has been completed on April 14.

Members of Gujarat Kisan Congress claimed that a huge stock, which was supposed to be sent to the godowns, was still lying in the market yard. The team also shot the videos of tuver bags with the seal of procurement laying in market yard.

Pal Ambaliya, chairman of Gujarat Kisan Congress, said, “The procurement process ended on April 14 and as per rule, the stock should reach the designated godowns within three days. When we raided this market yard, we found 10,000 bags lying in the yard.”

Ambaliya said the stock lying in this market yard does not meet the six parameters fixed to determine the quality and some of the bags were also torn. “This shows that after procurement, the stock was tampered,” he alleged.

The Congress party has decided to submit a representation in this regard to district authorities on Monday. However, after this raid, the local authorities started the work to move the stock to godown, Congress claimed.

When contacted, Bhavnagar collector Harshad Patel said, “I haven’t received any formal complaint regarding irregularities in procurement. But if I get any complaint with substance, we will inquire into the allegations.”

Congress alleged irregularities in 10,000 bags each of 50 kg. The stock is procured by food and civil supply department on behalf of state government at the rate of Rs 1,135 per 20 kg.