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Apple Growers in Himachal Duped of Rs. 80 Lakh, Govt Issues Guidelines for Horticulturists to Avoid Frauds
Shimla-About 44 apple growers of Karsog region of Mandi district were allegedly duped by a dealer. These growers had sold the dealer 5000 boxes of apple approximately worth Rs 80 lakh during the months of July and August 2019.
It was revealed by Member of Legislative Assembly, Karsog Constituency, Hira Lal, in a letter to Chief Minister Jairam Thakur.
As per the MLA Hira Lal, a person named Parvaiz Ahmad Wagay, the owner of Sahil Fruit Company based in Singhanpura, Kulgaon, Kashmir, along with Kamal Singh of Village Bahli, Tehsil Kumarsain, Shimla, visited the Seri Bunglow, one of the area in MLA’s constituency, during the month of July-August, 2019.
Parvaij allegedly purchased packed apple boxes of approximately Rs 80 lakh from various growers of the area and gave them posted dated cheques as payments. These cheques were drawn on the HP State Cooperative Bank, Seri Bunglow, where Parvaij had opened an account recently, the MLA said in the letter.
“This person made purchases in the name of his firm without any challan and merely cheques were handed over to the growers, which was gross negligence on the part of my constituents,”
Hira Lal said.
“After taking almost 5000 packed boxes of apple, he suddenly disappeared from the area and switched off his mobile number. On the due date, when growers tried to encash the cheques, they bounced as the account lacked sufficient amount.”
he added.
An FIR has been filed at the Karsog Police station in this regard, he informed. However, he said, as the accused hails from Jammu and Kashmir, the local police would find it difficult to investigate the case. He urged the Chief Minister to form a Special Investigation Team comprising of high-rank police officials to nab the accused and recover the hard-earned money of growers from the accused.
The Additional Superintendent of Police, CID, confirmed the report and said about half-a-dozen of growers have approached him with a complaint of fraud by a Kashmiri dealer.
Following this case, the state government on Thursday issued guidelines to “prevent fraud against horticulturists/apple growers.”
The Guidelines Said:
- Horticulturist must sell their apples to the registered/authorized dealers only and should ensure that the dealer is verified by the police.
- The horticulturist should also check the authenticity of the license of the dealer.
- For the transportation of the crop, the horticulturist should use vehicles of Registered Transport Union or Goods Transport Union.
- The sales of the crop should take place through an online transaction.
- If the dealer makes the payment through cheque, then the horticulturist must avoid post-dated cheque of long duration.
- In case of failure in payment process by the dealer or cheque bounce, the horticulturist must immediately inform Secretary, APMC or Deputy Director Agriculture through a written complaint.
It’s not the first time that such case of fraud has appeared in Himachal Pradesh. A large number of cases are pending where dealers have not made payments to growers. Kisan Sangharsh Samiti had been raising this issue for several months now. With the help of the Samiti, some of the money was recovered after growers filed FIRs against dealers. Samiti had been alleging that inaction of APMC and the state government in checking entry of unregistered dealers or dealers with bad history into the market and allowing them to conduct business is encourging such cases.
The Agriculture Minister, Ramlal Markanda, in a statement to media a couple of days ago, had washed his hands of this responsibility by stating that he has no control over the APMC as it is not governed by the state government. He had further added that the markets of the entire state would come under the state government only after the APMC Bill 2019 is passed.
This statement of Markanda was questioned by MLA, Theog constituency, Rakesh Singh. Sinigha said that all the members of the APMC board are officials of the state government. Therefore, the state government can’t say that the board is not under its control. He had termed it a misleading statement.
Shimla-Himachal Pradesh Government employees working in different departments before January 3, 2022, would be given a higher scale at par with other employees on completion of two years tenure of regular service. A higher pay scale was also announced for the Junior Office Assistants (IT) on completion of two years of regular service.
Chief Minister Jairam Thakur made these announcements during the Karamchari Maha Sammelan of the Himachal Pradesh Non-Gazetted Employees Federation at the hotel Peterhof on Sunday.
He appreciated the role played by the employee especially frontline workers in the battle against the pandemic.
He said most of the government employees in the state have been given revised pay scales and on average, every employee has got the benefit of a 12 to 15 percent salary hike. There has also been an increase in the pension of about 1.50 lakh pensioners of the state. The financial benefits of Rs. 7801 crore have been given to state government employees and pensioners from the year 2018 to 2022. The pensioners who retired before 2016 are getting the benefit of a 15 to 20 percent increase in the pension while around 40 thousand pensioners who retired after 2016 would be benefitted soon, he said.
He said the daily wages were Rs. 210 in the year 2017 which has been increased by the present state government to Rs. 350. Similarly, 12 per cent interim relief annually has been provided to government employees and pensioners during the present government’s tenure. He said the Himachal government has provided Dearness Allowance to its employees and pensioners on the lines of Punjab and Central governments from the due date. The Punjab government has given only 5 percent interim relief to the employees while the Himachal government has provided 21 percent interim relief to its employees.
“Out of the total interim relief amount given to the employees and pensioners amounting to about Rs. 6500 crore, Rs. 3500 crore has been paid during the tenure of our government” added the Chief Minister.
He said that the state government has increased the government contribution for NPS employees from 10 percent to 14 percent benefitting more than one lakh employees. The NPS employees are being given the benefits of retirement and death gratuity at par with employees falling under the old pension scheme. The government has also increased the upper limit of death gratuity from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh.
The Chief Minister said the state government has also increased the honorarium of para-workers working in various departments. The salary of outsource workers has been hiked by Rs 1,500 per month.
Non-Gazetted Employees Federation President Ashwani Thakur thanked the Chief Minister for providing various financial and other benefits to different categories of government employees.
New Delhi-The Centre has issued a notification to the States informing that the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005 will not be invoked in the country after March 31. The Union Health Ministry said that the use of face masks and following hand hygiene will continue.
It implies that most of the Covid-related rules and restrictions would end.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued the notification which said that the decision was taken following the overall improvement in the situation and the preparedness of the government in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, local authorities and State police can still invoke fines and criminal cases against persons violating COVID-19 norms under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a senior government official said.
The DM Act was invoked on March 24, 2020, due to the pandemic
“Over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases. The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28%. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered,” the notification said.
“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at a local level, as advised by MoHFW (Health Ministry) from time to time,” the notification said.
The Indian government had issued various guidelines and measures for the first time on March 24, 2020, under the Disaster Management Act to curb the COVID-19 situation in the country, which have been modified several times thereafter.
India currently has 23,087 active COVID-19 cases and recorded 1,778 new cases and 62 deaths in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate has also declined to 0.28%.
Shimla-A meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was held on March 20, 2022, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
The excise policy for the financial year 2022-23 was approved. Approval was also given for the renewal of retail excise vends in the state for the financial year 2022-23 at the renewal fees of 4% of the value of unit/vend.
The State Government said that wants to enhance the government revenue and curb the smuggling of country liquor from the neighbouring states by a reduction in its price.
The brands of Country Liquor will be cheaper as license fees have been reduced. This will help in providing good quality liquor at a cheaper rate to the consumers.
In the new excise policy, the 15% fixed quota of country liquor for manufacturers and bottlers to be supplied to the retail licensees has been abolished. According to the government, this step will give the retail licensees to lift their quota from the suppliers of their choice and further assure the supply of good quality country liquor at competitive prices. The MRP of country liquor will be cheaper by 16% of the existing price.
In this year’s policy, the Gaudhan Vikas Nidhi Fund has been enhanced by Re.1/- from the existing Rs.1.50 to Rs.2.50.
The fixed annual license fee of Bars has been rationalized by abolishing the area-specific slabs of license fee. Now throughout the State, there will be uniform license slabs based upon the room capacity in hotels.
Rates of the annual fixed license fee of Bars in the tribal areas has been reduced considerably.
Further, all the above stakeholders will have to install CCTV cameras at their establishments as it was made mandatory for them.
Wholesale vends and retail vends, the penalty provisions under the H.P. Excise Act, 2011 have been made more stringent.
An end to end online Excise Administration System would be established in Himachal Pradesh, the government said.
HP Government estimates a collection of Rs 2131 crore revenue during the year, which will be Rs. 264 crores higher than the financial year 2021-22 – growth of 14% in state excise revenues.
The Cabinet also gave its nod to amend Himachal Pradesh Disaster Relief Manual-2012 to include deaths due to biting of honey bees, hornet and wasps, accidental drowning and deaths due to accidents of vehicles (including land, water and air) under this Manual.
The Cabinet gave its approval for filling up 11 posts of ‘A’ Class Tehsildar in Revenue Department through direct recruitment on regular basis through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission.
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The HP Cabinet also gave its nod to HP State Toll Policy for the year 2022-23 which envisages auction cum tender for all the toll barriers in the State. During the year 2021-22, toll revenue has registered a growth of 20 percent of the previous year’s revenue.
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