Tuver scam rocks Keshod APMC

By Nischal Sanghavi

The Agricultural Product Market Committee (APMC) in Keshod town of Junagadh district is at the centre of a storm. One of the biggest markets for vegetables that caters to anywhere between 6,000 and 10,000 traders daily is engulfed in a ‘tuver’ crop scam.

Keshod APMC’s main crop is ‘tuver’ which is traded in large numbers.

There has been strict quality checks before the produce is certified and packed in bags with the entire process being videographed. Once the bags are sealed, the farmers are paid their remuneration and the seals cannot be opened under any circumstances. Despite the stringent inspections, ‘kastar’ has been found to have been mixed with tuver in the bags in large numbers.

According to Bharat Ladani, vice-president of Khedut Putra Hit Rakshak Samiti (KPHRS), “When the sealed bags were taken to government godown, the officials at the government godown rejected the tuver bags , claiming they had found ‘kastar’ mixed with ‘tuver’ in the bags in large numbers. This clearly means that when the bags were repacked into ‘kattas’ (name given to 50 kg bags in local language) and sealed, the seal was broken by someone and mixed with ‘kastar’ (kastar is plant waste of tuver which is fit to be eaten for animals only).”

“When the bags were taken to government godowns as per regular procedure, the authorities at the government godown rejected the stock as it was not pure but mixed with ‘kastar’. The seals of the bags that were returned to APMC godown were again broken by culprits and mixed with tuver to make it of acceptable quality,” Ladani said. To get to the root of the scam, Ladani along with KPHRS president Dhirubhai stayed at the APMC for an entire night and found that the seal of tuver bags were broken and were remixed with ‘kastar’. They immediately submitted a complaint to the Collectorate and Mamlatdar’s office.

Ladani, who is also past convener of the organisation, added that the total suspicious stock included 3,260 ‘katta’ of ‘tuver’, each weighing 50 kg. “This means that the market value of total stock comes to around Rs 90 lakh at Rs 2,800/katta which is the going rate.”

APMC Chairman Ramanbhai Patel said he was travelling and had no idea about the incident.

Jahangir Baloch, mamlatdar, Nagrik Purvatha Nigam who is in charge of the search operation said, “The operation is on and we have seized the entire stock of all 3,260 ‘katta’ of ‘tuver’ right now. The culprits may be grader staff, staff of Nagrik Purvatha Nigam and businessmen who using fake names of some farmers might have submitted mixed crops.”

Baloch later said, “Seven culprits were identified by night from the search operation and police has filed an FIR against them.”