NE NEWS SERVICE
AURANGABAD, JUNE 22
After receiving complaints that some vendors in Aurangabad were forcing farmers to buy farming material along with urea, Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Dada Bhuse on Sunday visited a shop here posing as a customer.
The minister first sent a dummy customer to the shop located in Jadhav Wadi area to verify the complaint before visiting it himself.
Bhuse, a Shiv Sena legislator who represents the Malegaon Outer Assembly constituency in Nashik district, himself told about the incident to reporters here.
“I had received complaints that some shopkeepers are compelling customers to buy farming material along with urea. I sent one dummy customer to a shop named Navbharat Fertiliser to verify the complaint,” he said.
“When the dummy customer told me that the shopkeeper was indeed forcing him to buy some other things, I went to the shop on a two-wheeler. Covering my face with a handkerchief, I went there as a customer and asked for urea. However, the vendor refused to give it,” the minister added.
After that the minister revealed his identify and ordered a detailed review of the stock in the shop.
“An officer from the quality control department was sent on compulsory leave in this connection and a probe was ordered,” Bhuse said.
