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GUNTUR, May 9

SERIOUS doubts have been raised about the usefulness of the Tobacco Board and its further existence following the clash between the two major tobacco producers in the country— Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The Centre has sent the former Commerce Secretary, Mr Prabir Sengupta, as a one-man commission ostensibly ``to study the functioning of the board and suggest measures to improve it.''

The two States are now locked in a battle over the production of Virginia tobacco with Andhra Pradesh intent on paring it and Karnataka bent on hiking the output. Both the States are sending delegations to New Delhi this month to veer the Union Commerce Ministry around to their respective points of view.

Andhra Pradesh, where auctions are going on currently with poor prices and lacklustre trade participation, wants the Ministry to release funds for market intervention in the State and not allow Karnataka to grow more whereas Karnataka is seeking to enhance the crop size from the permitted 41 million kg in the State to 60 million kg.

Mr Sengupta, who was here on Wednesday and Thursday, however, has assured farmers and others that the board would not be scrapped and the Government was not toying with such an idea.

He said there need be no such apprehensions and he also expressed satisfaction over the efforts made in Andhra Pradesh during the crop holiday period to grow alternative crops and maximise returns to the farmers. He said he would submit the report to the Centre taking into account the views expressed by all sections and the complexities of the issues at stake.

Dr Y. Sivaji, President of the AP Virginia Tobacco Growers' Association, said the existence of the board was crucial to safeguard the interests of the farmers. He also represented to Mr Sengupta that the minimum export price (MEP), scrapped in 1994, be restored, as the traders were trying to undercut each other and export low-quality tobacco at cheap rates, thereby spoiling the image of Indian tobacco in the international market.

He said recently a trade delegation had been to Egypt, under the leadership of the board Chairman, Dr Dayachari, and Cairo had evinced good interest. But there was a wide margin in the price quotations by Indian exporters, ranging from 50 cents a kg to $2-3, and the Egyptians backed off, suspecting the quality and urging the Tobacco Board to give quality assurances. ``It is in view of such practices adopted by our trade that the MEP should be restored. It would check undercutting to an extent,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the tobacco farmers in AP have deferred their plan to block rail and road traffic on Friday in protest against poor auction prices. They have put off their plans by five days as a delegation under the leadership of the State Agriculture Minister, Mr V. Sobhanadreeswara Rao, will leave for New Delhi to try and solve the problem.

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