‘Shady’ firm all set to sell flower seeds to farmers of Malwa

Bharat Khanna

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, April 27

A team of 95 fake Agriculture Field Officers called ‘Special-95’ is all set to target the cotton growers in the Malwa belt who had suffered heavy damage last year due to the whitefly attack.

These ‘field officers’, recruited by firm Sahyog Agriculture Mandikaran Nigam Limited (SAMNL), have been instructed to sell flower seed packets to farmers in the cotton belt.

‘Special-95’ officers are on the job to make an agreement with the farmers to purchase the flower produce and to take Rs 5,000 per acre from farmers for the flower seeds.

The operations of Sahyog, which is being run under a name similar to that of a state government undertaking, are continuing in Bathinda, Muktsar and Abohar districts.

In Bathinda, its office is opposite Bathinda lake. The Tribune team visited the office of SAMNL and met the ‘Special-95’ field officers. These employees, on the condition of anonymity, claimed that the director had assured them five-month salary at end of this month. “Otherwise, he would return our Rs 5 lakh taken to give us government jobs,” they said.

The block officer at SAMNL Bathinda office, Gurvinder Singh, claimed that Rs 5 lakh was a must to get recruited as a field officer and that the payment of salary would start after six months of work. He claimed that SAMNL was a government organisation.

Director Sukhbir Virk said he had started a drive to distribute flower seeds to farmers for Rs 5,000. Like any other private firm, SAMNL had the right to do so. He claimed that his company would purchase the whole flower produce.

He said, “There can be number of controversies over this firm but we have submitted all the proofs.”

On his firm being unable to pay salaries, he said, “The employees are working with us only if they are getting something.”

Bathinda Agriculture Officer NS Aulakh said he had no authority to take action. He added that farmers should not buy seeds and make agreements with such firms as earlier too, private firms have duped farmers.