The notification, issued after the bumper crop this year, specifies that onion exports will be allowed only to associate shippers of agencies designated by the Gujarat and Maharashtra state governments, apart from National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation.

Shippers here said that Nafed is refusing to issue no-objection certificates (NOCs) to them this year. Nafed's NOCs have enabled Calcutta-based shippers to establish good trade relations with Bangladesh, over the last 20 years.

The notification has also restricted Nafed's exports to only 10,000 tonnes of onions per month up to May 1999. Onion merchants said Gujarat has been given an export quota of 15,000 tonnes per month and Maharastra of 25,000 tonnes up to May under the notification, No. 42 (RE-98) / 1999-2000published in the Government of India Gazette Extraordinary.

Nafed, which operates all over India, had also been allowed another export quota of 30,000 tonnes for shipment during April-May.

The Calcutta-based shippers, mostly under the umbrella of the Posta Bazar Onion Merchants Association (PBOMA), have petitioned the Union commerce minister and pointed out that it is not possible for them to go to Maharashtra and Gujarat to get themselves registered. In a strongly-worded protest note dated May 19, exporters have sought to know why Nafed is denying them NOCs.

"We demand justice from you or want clarification why the onion exporters in Calcutta who are already associated shippers of Nafed prevented from getting NOCs on the same terms as already being applied to the associate shippers of government agencies in Gujarat and Maharastra," the note says.

They have pointed out that, before the notification, Nafed used to issue NOC. The PBOMA letter further observed that prior to the notification, Nafed usedto issue NOCs to exporters on payment of commission at 3.5 per cent of export amount along with a service charge of Rs 10 per tonne.

PBOMA secretary Ashoke Kumar Jadav, concedes that Calcutta-based shippers have the option to carry out export through states favoured by the Union government. "But it is not possible for local shippers to go to Gujarat and Maharashtra regularly to get their names registered with those governments," the PBMOA letter said.