The tampering brings in a net profit of more than Rs 2.5 lakh in just a single transaction.
The Maharashtra government has announced that Tur dal will be procured in the state till May 31 after a bumper production this year. But beyond relief to farmers who are holding unsold stock, there is a question: Will an investigation be held into the irregularities in procurement?
The allegation is that traders have bought pulses at low prices from desperate farmers and sold it to the government at the Minimum Support Price, which is much higher. Protests have been held at the Secretariat and demands have been made for a probe into the irregularities.
"Within a month, the government said it has procured 20 lakh tonnes from 10,71,000 tonnes," said Congress's former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. There cannot be such a discrepancy in figures, he said.
"Our figures are collected at the ground level and there is satellite photography. We believe farmers panicked and sold their tur much below the Minimum Support Price," he said.
Tampering of tokens issued by NAFED for procurement suggests that more stock has been procured that what a farmer originally registers at the procurement centre.
For procurement of tur, a farmer registers the stock he is going to sell to the government. For this, he is given a token and a date to come back with the stock. On the day of procurement, he produces the token and the stock is procured at the Minimum Support Price.
Admitting there were irregularities, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Uday Rajput said, "Angry farmers have complained about the tokens. When I inspected the tokens and their register, I saw procurement has been done more than once on a single token."
For example, one token showed a farmer initially promised 82 half-quintal bags at the APMC Telhara in Akola district. But at the time of procurement, 182 bags are procured on the same farmer's name by adding the digit '1' on the token.
The tampering brings in a net profit of more than Rs 2.5 lakh in just a single transaction.
It has been alleged that such tampering is not possible without the connivance of officials at the procurement centre. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has promised to investigate the matter and start criminal proceedings against those indulging in this malpractice.
The procurement date has been extended to ensure more farmers are not duped. "I think about 6,00,000 tonnes of tur will be bought. The state government is doing record-breaking shopping," Mr Fadnavis said.