Demonetisation could not have taken place at a better time from the point of view of the unscrupulous politicians in Adilabad district. They are smug in the knowledge that at least a part of their ill-gotten wealth will be converted into white money if used in cotton trading, currently on here.
Adilabad town’s huge cotton trade and processing centre, which is estimated to log in a turnover of about Rs. 5,000 crore every year, has always been in the limelight for wrong reasons. It is now in focus for the unholy nexus between the traders, commission agents and politicians which is reportedly coming in handy in laundering black money.
The trader-purchasers are using scrapped currency, a good part of it sourced from the politicians’ stockpile, for making cash payments to farmers for their cotton traded in the agriculture market yards in Adilabad and Boath. The procedure of trading cotton does provide enough scope for such nefarious activities.
The white ‘gold’ is sold by farmers through commission agents who are the ones who make the payments in cash on behalf of the purchaser, except in the event of Cotton Corporation of India entering the scene wherein money is credited directly into the bank account of farmers. The commission agents in turn get paid by the trader after the lapse of certain period.
In this instance, it is strongly rumoured that some traders are even paying an incentive of Rs. 300 or Rs. 400 to farmers on every quintal of cotton purchased. This is to ensure they accept payments in lapsed currency notes and deposit those in respective bank accounts not minding withdrawing them gradually.
The purchasers and the commission agents record the transactions showing payment due in the name of the farmers concerned. At a later date, the trader will ‘pay’ his dues to the commission agents who in turn will draw it from the bank as white money purportedly to pay to the farmers but will actually channelise it back to the cotton purchaser.
Inquiries with the Telangana Grameena Bank, the bank with the largest farmer-customer base, revealed that a handful of farmers under its Bela branch did try to deposit unusually large sums in lapsed currency notes. "Though we cannot deny the existence of the money laundering phenomenon, we are taking precautions not to become a part of the crime even unwittingly,” asserted an official of the TGB.
It is only a few days since the demonetisation came into effect and so the quantum of black money infused into the market may not be alarming. Another impediment would be the slack arrivals of the produce in the markets which has the cumulative purchases at 1.72 lakh quintals against the 3.13 lakh quintals recorded in 2015 at Adilabad market yard.
