{"id":59907,"date":"2026-02-07T05:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/?p=59907"},"modified":"2026-02-07T05:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:11:14","slug":"centre-orders-probe-into-alleged-%e2%82%b96000-10000-crore-bogus-paddy-procurement-scam-in-punjab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/latest\/centre-orders-probe-into-alleged-%e2%82%b96000-10000-crore-bogus-paddy-procurement-scam-in-punjab\/","title":{"rendered":"Centre orders probe into alleged \u20b96,000\u201310,000 crore bogus paddy procurement scam in Punjab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chandigarh: The Union government has ordered an inquiry into an alleged large-scale bogus paddy procurement scam in Punjab during the 2025\u201326 marketing season, with the suspected amount ranging between \u20b96,000 crore and \u20b910,000 crore.<\/p>\n<p>According to official sources, the action followed complaints sent by commission agents (arhtiyas) from Sangrur to the Centre. Acting on these complaints, the Union Ministry of Finance and the Department of Food and Public Distribution have directed the Punjab Chief Secretary to conduct a detailed probe into the matter.<\/p>\n<p>In compliance with the Centre\u2019s directions, Punjab\u2019s Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs has asked all district food and supply controllers to convene meetings of their respective district allotment committees and submit investigation reports by February 13. Officials said that meetings have already been scheduled across districts.<\/p>\n<p>Why suspicions were raised<\/p>\n<p>Questions had earlier surfaced when procurement arrivals in Punjab mandis matched last year\u2019s levels despite widespread flood damage and a reported decline in paddy yield. At that time, the Punjab government had ordered inquiries in some border districts and registered police cases related to paddy allegedly brought in from other states.<\/p>\n<p>Allegations in the complaint<\/p>\n<p>The complaint sent to the Centre alleges that commission agents issued fake \u2018J forms\u2019 in farmers\u2019 names, received payments into their accounts, and then shared the money among farmers, arhtiyas, rice millers and procurement agency officials. It further claims that paddy was later sourced from other states at prices below \u20b9600 per quintal, while being shown as procured in Punjab at the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Details of the alleged network and modus operandi were also shared with the Centre.<\/p>\n<p>A senior official of the department said that similar complaints had also been sent by rice millers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to seven different Union ministries and investigation agencies. The official maintained that the complaints were baseless, asserting that strict checks make large-scale bogus procurement unlikely in the state. Verification of procurement data is underway, and a detailed report will be submitted to the Centre soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chandigarh: The Union government has ordered an inquiry into an alleged large-scale bogus paddy procurement scam in Punjab during the 2025\u201326 marketing season, with the suspected amount ranging between \u20b96,000 crore and \u20b910,000 crore. According to official sources, the action followed complaints sent by commission agents (arhtiyas) from Sangrur to the Centre. Acting on these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[12984,12983],"class_list":["post-59907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-punjab","tag-bogus-paddy-procurement-scam-in-punjab","tag-centre-orders-probe-into-scam"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Centre orders probe into alleged \u20b96,000\u201310,000 crore bogus paddy procurement scam in Punjab - PunjabENews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/punjabenews.com\/English\/latest\/centre-orders-probe-into-alleged-\u20b96000-10000-crore-bogus-paddy-procurement-scam-in-punjab\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Centre orders probe into alleged \u20b96,000\u201310,000 crore bogus paddy procurement scam in Punjab - PunjabENews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chandigarh: The Union government has ordered an inquiry into an alleged large-scale bogus paddy procurement scam in Punjab during the 2025\u201326 marketing season, with the suspected amount ranging between \u20b96,000 crore and \u20b910,000 crore. According to official sources, the action followed complaints sent by commission agents (arhtiyas) from Sangrur to the Centre. 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