Gehlot, Raje raise decibel as bumper bajra rots

He voices the opinion of every farmer, who survived the four years of drought in the state, celebrating when the skies opened up. They are now watching politicians talk and FCI officials throw the rule book in their face.

‘‘The current mandi rate is an average Rs 365 per quintal and most of the bajra is being sold as cattle feed,’’ says R.P. Sharma, in charge of Bassi mandi. ‘‘There are 15,000 quintals of bajra in the mandi today, mostly sold and bought through the auction system. Not even one kg has been bought through the procurement centers.’’

Last month, the Centre took a ‘‘political decision’’ to procure bajra from Rajasthan farmers. It fixed a minimum support price of Rs 505 and set up over 60 centers across the state. A week later, with the bumper crop being bigger than expected, and ‘‘under pressure’’, the Centre reduced the support price to Rs 500.

But farmers are still not happy because at most centers their produce was being rejected outright. Excess rains before the harvest has ruined most of the crop and the markets are flooded with blackened grains. As a result, the Centre has procured only 192 metric tonnes of bajra since it opened shop on October 1.

‘‘We cannot buy bajra which doesn’t meet FCI specifications,’’ says Rajeshwar Singh of Raj State Cooperative Marketing Federation (Rajfed). ‘‘The bajra that we buy on behalf of the FCI is usually stocked in godowns for almost a year. If we buy bad bajra, it will just rot in our godowns.’’

FCI’s senior regional manager N.K. Aswal adds: ‘‘Now that the Centre has relaxed the quality standards, we are expecting the quantity of procured bajra to increase.’’

Besides, the technical aspect of how black the grain is, bajra has also become the bone of contention between Congress and BJP. As talk of the bumper crop floated in, the Ashok Gehlot government said it was the ‘‘Centre’s job’’ to come to the farmers’ rescue. ‘‘What can we do ? They (Centre) have to procure, the state doesn’t do it,’’ says Deputy CM Kamla Beniwal.

The BJP has taken its pot shots at the Gehlot government’s stand. ‘‘The state government machinery, instead of facilitating the process, has been creating obstacles and forcing farmers to sell bajra at throwaway prices,’’ says BJP MP Vasundhara Raje.

Claiming that it would have cost the state only Rs 25 crore to buy the bajra, she adds: ‘‘The CM has spent Rs 1,529 crore on beautification of cities, including Rs 75 crore on Jaipur. He spends Rs 25 crore for maintaining an aircraft for his use but when it comes to buying bajra, there is no money.’’