Tamil Nadu’s Consumer Cooperative Federation has cancelled an order for 400 metric tonnes of onions from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited after an inspection found substantial quantities of rotten, sprouted, fungus-affected and undersized produce in the consignment.
The order was placed on October 31 by the Tamil Nadu Consumer Cooperative Federation (TNCCF), under the cooperatives department, at a rate of Rs 29 per kg. The onions were intended for distribution through the public distribution system and cooperative outlets as part of the state’s market intervention programme.
According to the Tamil Nadu government, a team that inspected the consignment at Korukkupet on October 31 found that between 20% and 26% of the onions in sample bags were rotten, sprouted or affected by fungus. The inspection also found that 50.2% of the onions were below the prescribed minimum diameter of 45mm.
The order required the onions to meet ‘A’ grade specifications and a minimum diameter of 45mm. Following the inspection, the government cancelled the order. It said the substandard onions reportedly lying at the Korukkupet terminal belonged to NAFED and were not onions procured by the cooperatives department.
The development has brought the quality-control process in large-scale public procurement into focus. The government said a senior official from the cooperative department had visited Nashik to inspect the onions before dispatch, but sources cited in the report said the official was not permitted to carry out the quality check of the stock.
NAFED, an apex organisation under the Union ministry of agriculture, had supplied onions under the state’s market intervention programme. The programme was launched to make onions available to consumers at Rs 35 per kg through fair-price shops and cooperative outlets while helping control retail prices.
Cooperatives Minister V Gandhiraj launched the scheme in Chennai on September 3. The department has so far procured onions through both NAFED and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited (NCCF) across three phases.
The department said it had procured a total of 2,498 metric tonnes of onions during these phases, of which 2,380.32 metric tonnes had been sold. Phase-wise sales rates stood at 97%, 96% and 92%, according to the government. These figures indicate that the programme has seen sustained consumer demand at cooperative and fair-price outlets.
The cancelled order means the affected consignment will not enter the state’s public distribution and cooperative retail channels under the current procurement arrangement. The government said it would continue procuring and distributing only quality produce to protect consumers and the financial interests of cooperative institutions.
The immediate next step is for the department to continue sourcing onions that meet the specified grade and size requirements for distribution through the market intervention programme.
