Questions are being asked, because when onion prices went up, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel had himself announced (on October 28) that onions would be imported through private parties.

Post fiasco, however, on November 5, Patel pleaded ignorance and said he had learnt about the consignment that rotted in transit only from newspapers. He also said he would inquire into what happened -- though no government agency was involved in the import.

The affair has left a bitter taste in the mouth of the importer, a leading corporate house of the state, which is footing the bill for the rotting 100 tonnes. The importing (of some 400 tonnes) was done as a favour to the state government, on informal terms, co-ordinated by Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Utkarsh Shah.

According to well-informed sources, there was delay at every step -- from buying the onions in Iran, loading it onto the ship, getting a berth at Mumbai port, and transporting it to Ahmedabad. The importer's inexperience in handling perishables -- such as onions -- is also responsible for what happened. Apparently, the consignment was packed in airtight containers when it should have been kept in ventilated ones, said another importer, who is bringing in 400 tonnes of onions from Dubai under the open general licence (OGL). Some 200 tonnes of that was expected to arrive at a Gujarat port on Sunday. Other firms are also importing onions.

However, all of them now balk at another round of imports, as the remaining 300 tonnes of the first consignment still lies in Mumbai port. It is unlikely to be brought here: the stink it raises has embarrassed the state government. Officials aren't willing to speak about the affair.

Director of agriculture marketing G.K. Fakir said he did not know anything about it. ``The cooperation department is nowhere is the picture. Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Utkarsh Shah requested me to help have the onions distributed. So we made the arrangement through APMC market agents,'' he said.

Shah, in turn, said, ``On the request of the state government, we decided to coordinate the imports.'' Vehemently maintaining that he was nowhere in the picture, Shah said that efforts of the well-meaning importers should be appreciated as the exercise was taken up with the ``noble motive'' of bringing down the sky-rocketing price of onion. ``The effort should continue while ensuring that imported consignment arrived here in good shape,'' he said.

But who will bear the cost of rotten onions? ``Some men who are well-wishers of the public,'' said a Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry source close to the importers. No one is willing to come on quote about the cost of the rotten consignment, or the number importers involved. But sources said the cost would run into some lakhs, and that the Adani Group was one of the importers.

Be that as it may, given the double whammy of rotten onion and loss to ``some well wishers'', it is unclear what the state government plans to do to bring onions to the common man. The scarcity threatens to undo the mass appeal the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party claims to enjoy.