NAGPUR: Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government and the opposition are now fighting a bitter political battle over tur dal. The chief minister, after holding a review meeting in Mumbai with ministers, announced that the state has decided to make available Rs1,000 crore for tur purchase.The protein rich pulse is mainly produced in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions where it is grown as inter-crop alongside cotton. Thanks to a promotion drive and good weather conditions, tur yield has jumped this year by three times in the state.While the Congress-NCP leaders are accusing Fadnavis of inaction and ditching farmers by restricting tur procurement, the chief minister claims the state has already procured 4 lakh tonnes in this one year. This is more than what the previous governments did in entire span of 10 years. Opposition claims that thousands of farmers are waiting at NAFED procurement centres where purchase has been suspended since April 22.Fadnavis on Monday met Union food and civil supplies minister Ramvilas Paswan and urged him to hike import duty on tur to 25% up from current 10%. He has also obtained permission for procurement through the central agency for farmers crop arrived till April 22.On Tuesday, the chief minister meeting with ministers Pandurang Fundkar Subhash Deshmukh , Girish Bapat and senior officials on tur purchase issue. He stated that of the total 11 lakh tonnes tur purchased in India, 4 lakh tonnes was purchased by Maharashtra alone. This year's tur purchase is more than the sum of all purchase in the last 10 years. To overcome problems of gunny bags shortage, district collectors have been given powers to purchase bags locally using contingency funds.As per an advance estimate, India's tur production has registered a jump of 65% from 25.6 lakh tonne in 2015-16 to 42.3 lakh tonne in 2016-17 due to increase in acreage and favourable weather. Despite the Centre's repeated extensions to tur procurement scheme, long queues at the procurement centres have not receded. Incidentally, India is world's largest producer, consumer as well as importer of tur. It is mainly imported from Myanmar and African countries.Rejecting the opposition charges, he said the state was backing farmers to the hilt and had repeatedly extended procurement deadlines. "Normally, by March the farmers sell crop. But this time we have given more time as arrivals continued. The previous government managed to purchase barely 20,000 tonnes as its best effort. We have already procured 25 times more than that in one season," said Fadnavis. He said all arrivals registered till April 22 will be bought at the MSP of Rs5,050 a quintal.The opposition wants government to keep purchasing open even after cut off date, claiming that lakhs of quintals are still with farmers. "If these NAFED centres are shut, farmers will be at mercy of private traders who are paying less than Rs4,000 a quintal," said Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress.

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