Groundnut procurement: Guj complains to Centre about lax Nafed

The Gujarat government today said that it had apprised the Centre about the alleged laxity on the part of the latter's cooperative marketer Nafed in procuring and storing groundnuts in the state.

The issue has turned into a political slugfest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress with the latter calling it a Rs 4,000 crore scam.

The Congress had alleged that groundnut procured by various co-operative societies in Gujarat, especially in the Saurashtra region, were adulterated with sand and pebbles.

Gujarat Agriculture Minister R C Faldu today said that his ministry had written to its Central counterpart with suggestions on improving the working of National Agriculture Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).

"In my letter to the Agriculture Ministry, I have suggested that NAFED should act more seriously during the entire procurement process. Since there was some laxity on the part of NAFED (in procuring groundnut in Gujarat), I have apprised the ministry about it" Faldu told reporters.

"I suggested that NAFED should deploy qualified and expert manpower at all the procurement centres to keep a check on the process. Enhanced security measures are also necessary at godowns. NAFED should pay attention to securing the stock procured by it," Faldu added.

The development came days after NAFED chairman Vaghji Boda had questioned the BJP government's role in the discrepancies in groundnut procurement.

Boda, who had resigned from the Congress few days back, had said that although Gujarat State Co-Operative Cotton Federation Ltd (GUJCOT) was a bankrupt entity, it was chosen by the state to procure groundnuts from farmers on behalf of NAFED.

As many as 27 persons, including officials of NAFED and GUJCOT, have been arrested by the Rajkot police in connection with groundnut stocks found adulterated with soil and pebbles in a godown at Pedhla village in Jetpur taluka two weeks ago.