The Punjab government today suspended 14 inspectors of the food and civil supplies department for their alleged involvement in a Rs 10 crore wheat scam.
The suspension orders followed a report by a vigilance team, which had been asked to probe the charges of corruption relating to an estimated 45,000 quintals of wheat meant for public distribution being sold in the black market, an official spokesperson said.
The investigation was ordered on the basis of a complaint regarding sale of wheat, procured under the National Food Security Act, in the black market.
The complaint was made against the food inspectors of Rayya and Mehta centres in Amritsar district, the spokesperson said.
The CVC probe prima facie found that the 14 officials, against whom action has been taken, to be responsible.
They were found to have fabricated the documents showing the wheat to have been distributed amongst the beneficiaries by preparing bogus receipts and manipulating thumb impressions of the beneficiaries, said the spokesperson.
The accused are Bikram Singh, Gursewak Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Varun Thakur, Davinder Singh, Harmandeep Singh, Gursangat Singh, Amritpreet Kaur, Simarjeet Singh, Ajay Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Amit Sareen, Aarti Sharma and Sandeep Bansal.
According to the spokesperson, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has adopted a zero tolerance approach toward corruption and has directed all government departments to imbibe total transparency in their dealings with the public.
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