GUWAHATI: The murder case of the agriculture
department's superintendent engineer, Godapani Pathak, who was abducted
and killed more than a month ago, is yet to be closed. It has, in fact, blown
the lid off a subsidy scam in distribution of farm machinery in the department.
"There is a subsidy scam going on in the
agriculture department. The government provides subsidies on machinery like
tractors, power tillers and pump sets for farmers, but the benefits do not
reach the beneficiaries. On paper the subsidies are doled out but there are no
lists of beneficiaries," a source said.
Pathak was inquiring into anomalies in the
subsidies given on farm machinery in Dhubri district.
The source added, "It is suspected that
the machinery is sold in the open market for a price slightly lower than the
actual cost, but the subsidies are never transferred to the buyers," the
source said.
The agriculture department has now
asked all its district offices to submit list of beneficiaries of subsidized
power tillers, hand pump sets and other farm machinery. The source added that
the department is also now examining the volume of the subsidy scam and several
officials are scanner.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi has said
on record that the investigation so far points towards involvement of some
officials of the agriculture department in the murder of Pathak through hired
killers from Kamatapur Liberation Organization.
The agriculture department's rules binds
farmers legally not to sell subsidized farm machinery after procuring them from
the department. The rules say that the district agriculture officer will
sanction the application of farmers for farm machinery and arrange the
procurement and supply. After the machinery is commissioned, the agriculture
department will arrange for release of payment.
Under the Assam Agricultural
Competitiveness Project (AACP), the state gives 50% subsidy each on shallow
tube wells, low-lift pump, 30% on tractors, power tillers, 80% on sprinkler
irrigation.
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