DIBRUGARH: The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) staged a protest on Wednesday, burning an effigy of BVFCL CMD Pradip Kumar Banik for his alleged inaction against massive irregularities and large-scale corruption in the appointment of over 800 fertilizer dealers.
The AASU activists protested in front of the BVFCL main gate, voicing their grievances through the symbolic burning of the CMD’s effigy.
“Despite several letters highlighting the massive irregularities and large-scale corruption in the appointment of more than 800 fertilizer dealers, the BVFCL CMD has failed to take any action against the officials involved. The CMD himself is involved in the corruption, which is why no steps have been taken,” said Aboni Kumar Gogoi, AASU Dibrugarh district president.
“We have also demanded the resignation of the current in-charge CMD of BVFCL, Pradip Kumar Banik, for not taking action against the large-scale corruption,” Gogoi added.
Gogoi further alleged, “In the last financial year 2023-24, BVFCL incurred huge losses amounting to Rs 105 crore due to illegal practices allegedly carried out by some officials of the company. More than 800 dealers were illegally appointed by accepting large sums of money. SK Singh, the then Chief Marketing Officer, and former CMD SP Mohanty approved all these appointments.”
“BVFCL, being a central government PSU, is duty-bound to provide equal opportunities to all new dealership applicants by publishing open NITs and paper advertisements in local newspapers and posting dealership notifications on the company’s website. However, no such processes were followed for the appointment of these 598 marketing dealers. Instead, a pick-and-choose process was used, and large sums of money were collected from the newly appointed dealers by a select few marketing officers, including SK Singh and Sunil Tripathy, in deep collusion with ex-CMD SP Mohanty,” Gogoi alleged.
The AASU has called for immediate action to address these allegations and ensure transparency in the dealership appointment process.