Groundnut adulteration: Congress seeks inquiry by HC judge

The Congress Saturday demanded inquiry by a high court judge after groundnut procured from farmers and stored at a warehouse in Kutch district of Gujarat was found to be adulterated.

This 'scam', where good-quality groundnut procured at Minimum Support Price is diverted and replaced with adulterated stock, has links with the chief minister's office, the opposition party claimed.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani denied the charges, saying the procurement of groundnut was the responsibility of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), a central agency.

Amid reports that there was adulteration in the stock procured by state agencies and stored at a godown at Mithi Rohar near Gandhidham, a local traders' association conducted a 'public raid' Friday evening and found pebbles mixed with groundnut.

Congress leader Paresh Dhanani said it was a "multi- crore scam" and demanded a commission led by a high court judge to investigate it and also a judicial inquiry, and warned of agitation if the demand was not met.

"Good-quality groundnut procured from farmers by local societies was diverted and replaced with poor-quality groundnut," the Congress leader alleged.

"We have been demanding a probe by a sitting high court judge since February 2017, but our request fell on deaf ears because the scam is directly linked to the chief ministers office," he said.

"We are going to launch an agitation until the thieves are put behind the bars," he said.

Denying the allegations, chief minister Rupani pointed out that groundnut purchase was NAFED's responsibility.

"Police case has been filed against whatever happened in Gandhindham. Opposition is making false allegations and politicizing the issue, and it is not concerned about farmers' interest," he said.

NAFED director and former BJP minister Dileep Sanghani called the allegations "baseless".

"Groundnut is purchased by village societies. The money is paid to farmers immediately. Those behind the 2017 scam have been sent to jail," he said.

In 2018, around 30,000 sacks of groundnut, stored by NAFED at a rented godown at Pedhla in Rajkot district, were found adulterated with sand and stones.