Traders and sugarcane farmers from across Vadodara district had informed the Gujarat government about ongoing malpractices in sugar cooperatives over the last three years. In a series of letters written since 2004,the members of the Central Gujarat Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) had cited the lack of an open tender system as the main reason for discrepancies in sugar cooperatives. According to the Vadodara police,the period incidentally coincides with the time when sugarcane scam accused,the then chairman of Vadodara District Sugarcane Growers Cooperative Union,Jaykant Patel and then vice-chairman,Devendra Thakkar,had reportedly started siphoning off funds. In a series of the letters (the copy of which is with The Indian Express),the then president of the Central Gujarat Chambers of Commerce,Chetan Patel,written to Gujarat Agriculture Minister Bhupendra Chudasama,on June 23,2005,had demanded introduction of an open tender system in cooperative unions to bring transparency in transactions. However,it (the suggestion) was not taken into consideration by the minister or the department of sugar. The inaction in the matter has now led to this scam in the district amounting to Rs 18.7 crore, said Patel. Earlier in 2004,CGCC chairman Rampal Gupta,in two letters addressed to Agriculture Minister Bhupendra Chudasama,had demanded an end to the agent system and advised the department to follow the open system as practised in Maharashtra. According to Patel,in Vadodara district,even now monopoly is enjoyed by an agent who is reportedly a beneficiary of the sugarcane scam accused. On the other hand,the Director of Department of Sugar,Agriculture Ministry,G K Fakir denied the charge that lack of tendering system could have led to the scam. He,however,said there were large-scale financial irregularities committed by Patel and Thakkar. It was after one of the re-audits of the cooperative that we came to know that Patel and Thakkar have manipulated the accounts. Lack of tendering could be one of the reasons,but it is too early to say something like that, said Fakir. Modus operandiThe CGCC chairmans letter to Chudasama written in 2005 included the following points:* Despite the claims by the mills that efficient machinery can produce 108 kg sugar from a tonne of sugarcane,the actual production in most mills in the region was 95 kg.* With the connivance of agents,the difference of 13 kg sugar per tonne of sugarcane is balanced by deducting 500 gm sugar from each 100 kg bag.* The other way to control the weight of the 100-kg sugar bags is by using heavier B-12 variety of jute bags,which weigh up to 300 gm. While,rule says that gross weight and net weight of all the bags to be sold to traders,should be stated,the traders just get the net weight of the bags.* The weight and measurement invoice of sale tax and the excise department are never given to traders. Instead,the invoice of the agent is given to them.
