Aman Arora, AAP MLA from Sunam wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Capt. Amrinder Singh on Friday, accusing him of presenting false information to him on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. Highlighting the issue in a press conference , Arora said that in a reply to his Question no 150, in the Budget session last month, wherein information sought by him from the Chief Minister-cum- Agriculture Minister was in total contradiction to the information already procured under RTI Act.Raising eyebrows in the case, supported by all relevant documents and flanked by RTI activist from Sunam Rajesh Agarwal, Arora said that in reply to a question regarding DMI Scheme of the Punjab Mandi Board it has been stated by the CM that a total of 32 Weighbridges were installed in different Mandis (Grain Markets) of Punjab including Mansa, whereas on the other hand Market Committee Mansa in response of a RTI query,vide letter no. 1772 Date 19-12-2017. clearly denied having any weighbridge . Further in total contradiction to CM's total no of Weighbridges being 32, a letter no. Project-/ 2384 Dt 15/03/2018 from Secretary Mandi Board to Director Food and Supplies mentions total no of weighbridges to be 39 and numerous information procured under RTI applications total count of weighbridges are mentioned to be varying between 49, 32, 39, 55 and 56 .To a question that whether these weighbridges are functional, and CM's reply being in the affirmative and stating that free weighment of farmers produce is being done in all the Mandis on these weighbridges, RTI's procured from all the Market Committees clearly contradict CM' reply wherein not even a single Market Committee has confirmed CM's reply.
Even to an extent MC Ajnala vide letter no 1126 dt 18/12/2017 and Rajpura vide letter no 2035 dt 20/08/2017 clearly stating in RTI replies that no weighment has been done till date and all other Market Commitees stating unavailability of any record for the same.Further alleging that under DMI Scheme per weighbridge at the cost of 8.50 lacs was to be installed whereas 15.31 lac was spent per weighbridge which has been mentioned in the CM's reply itself amounting to an excess spending to a whopping Rs 333.69 crores. urther raising eyebrows to reply of the CM wherein it has been stated by the CM that all 32 Technically Modern Weighbridges were given on a monthly lease of Rs 5000/per month amounting to a total of Rs 60000/ Per month per weighbridge whereas at the same time a weighbridge at Faridkot Mandi installed in 1983 has been leased at Rs 288200/ annually, which clearly indicates that gross malpractices and embezzlements has been done by Mandi Board in the DMI Scheme during the previous Govt amounting to a multi crore loss to the state exchequer.Terming it as most unfortunate, unethical and illegal to provide false information either on the floor of the Assembly, amounting to 'Breach of Privilege' or through RTI, Arora asked the CM to come clean on this issue which he said that is being done by the Government and Mandi Board just to keep under wraps a multi crore scam that occurred under the garb of DMI scheme.Seeking independent vigilance inquiry into the whole scam and fixing responsibility of the officials concerned for providing false informations, Arora asked the CM to come clean on the whole issue as it's the right of the people of Punjab to know as to who misled them; it's either the officials providing replies under the RTI Act or the CM, that too on the floor of the August House, both amounting to breach of trust of the people of the State.