Warehouse Corpn officials mobbed

KHARAR, Oct 16: The district manager and some other officials of the Punjab State Warehouse Corporation were forced to flee from the grain market here last evening when irate farmers gheraoed them and started beating them up in protest against their indifferent attitude over paddy purchase.

The farmers became offensive when the district manager of the Corporation arrived at the grain market in the evening and refused to lift about 3,000 bags of paddy which were purchased by its inspectors during the day in the presence of SDM Avtar Chand Sharma.

It is learnt that the district manager of the Corporation refused to lift the paddy saying that it was below the prescribed specifications of the government and that it will be damaged up to 7-8 per cent during shelling. The farmers refuted this claim of the district manager and assured that there was no defect in their paddy. As such, they say, there is no thermometer which can tell how much paddy will be damaged during shelling.