A fresh case of corruption has been reported regarding the Registered Seed Growers Programme (RSGP).
The Vigilance Officer (Finance) of the Agriculture Department has recommended action against 18 persons including Ashok Kumar Thekkan, former Additional Director, and his wife, P.K. Beena, also an Additional Director in the department.
The couple were earlier suspended from service following a seed scam allegedly valued at ₹67 crore, pertaining to the fraudulent purchase of poor quality seeds for the Kerala State Seed Development Authority. Action was recommended against 18 officials, including the couple, then.
This time, besides the couple, action has been recommended against 16 others for corruption in RSGP, causing loss to the government. Penal action, including booking of corruption cases, has been recommended against K.J. Oniel, Assistant Director; M.S. Sineesh and V.V. Rajeevan, agriculture officers of Ayiloor in Palakkad, and 13 farmers.
As per the report, the farmers, who were supposed to produce seeds and hand them over to the department in 2014-15, took money from the department after showing that seeds were grown in their farmlands. Investigation revealed that the holdings, which the farmers indicated as farmlands, were originally ponds, rubber plantations, and coconut groves, the report said. The officials cleared the bills without verifying the holdings where the farmers claimed to have cultivated the seeds.
Farmers’ role
On their part, the farmers supplied low quality seeds from the market. The officials certified the seeds as originally produced by the farmers. The vigilance official has written to the government to recover ₹24.54 lakh from all the persons suspected to be involved in the corruption.
