Panjab Officials Served Notices over Missing Stubble Management Machines

Almost 900 Agriculture Department officials, including Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Agriculture Development Officers, Agriculture Extension Officers, and Agriculture Officers, were issued show-cause notices by the department in the ‘missing crop residue management’ machines case. The officers were asked to send their replies within 15 days. Machines were distributed in 2018-19 and 2021-22, under the centrally sponsored Promotion of Agriculture Mechanisation for In Situ Management of Crop Residue Scheme. Of the 90,422 machines, 11,000 were found missing. $17M worth of machines never reached farmers, and funds were embezzled, allegedly by submitting fake bills. In the last four years, the Center has allocated $142M to the state government for the purchase of machines. The bulk show-cause notices prompted officials to go on a pen-down strike. Jaswinder Singh Brar, Chairman, Punjab Agriculture Officers Association, said ‘We are being issued notices for no fault. There could be a number of reasons why the machines are not in possession of farmers on the day of physical verification…[they] could have been sent to another place.’ This could be an issue of distribution procedure, verification, or actual corruption, but it has bearing on the yearly allegations against Panjab over stubble burning, especially during the winter, when paddy is harvested and wheat is being sowed. This allegation is largely misplaced, but it tarnishes the image of the state nevertheless, especially when Panjab is known as the ‘breadbasket of India.’ (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 4, Story 6).