PATIALA, June 15: A vigilance inquiry into alleged embezzlement of government subsidy on super phosphate fertiliser in this district has indicted a Jalandhar-based company, besides unearthing a number of bogus fertiliser dealers, who were a part of this racket.

The fertiliser, on which the government gave a subsidy of Rs 340 per tonne to the manufacturing firm, Modern Agro Industries Limited, Awawalpur, Jalandhar, was produced and sold to farmers only on paper, says the probe.

Superintendent of Police Paramjit Singh Grewal, who conducted the inquiry, has submitted the report to the Director of Vigilance, Punjab, for registration of the case against the culprits.

According to Grewal, entries shown by the firm for production and sale of the subsidised fertiliser in Patiala and checked by the Agriculture Department were found to be bogus during the inquiry. He assessed that the company had misappropriated subsidy amount totalling Rs 50 lakh in the district.

The inquiry revealed that of the 14 dealers shown by the company in the district, two based at Patran-Jindal Trading Company and Rakesh Feed Store -- besides Pardeep Store at Samana, had bogus licences. Similarly, S K Agency and Vinay Trading Company, Rajpura, had shown a sale of about 60,000 bags of fertiliser which had reportedly never reached the farmers. Satnam Singh Behru, the Bharti Kisan Union leader on whose complaint the inquiry was ordered, felt that this probe had revealed only the tip of the iceberg.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.