Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Govt. discriminating against red gram growers: MLA

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, FEB. 8. Former Minister and MLA Vaijnath Patil and MLC M.R. Tanga today accused the State Government of adopting a step-motherly attitude and discriminating against red gram farmers in distress by not releasing adequate funds for effective market intervention through procurement centres.

Participating in an emergency meeting convened by the district administration following the outbreak of violence during the 12-day agitation launched by the Red Gram Growers Hitarakshana Samiti at the Agriculture Marketing Produce Committee (APMC) yard, Mr. Patil and Mr. Tanga said that the State Government has not released funds for the purchase of red gram through the Red Gram Development Board and the Karnataka State Cooperative Marketing Federation.

Mr. Tanga said that the board has spent around Rs. 3.75 crores from the corpus fund released by the Government at the time of its establishment and the funds crunch has restricted the procurement of red gram from farmers. Mr. Patil pointed out that the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, had told him that Rs. 9 crores has been released to the board with directions to intervene in the markets. However, inquiries with the board here revealed that the Government is yet to release the money.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Panchayat and in-harge Deputy Commissioner, M.S. Srikar presided over the meeting and said that the Government has agreed to release Rs. 50 lakhs immediately to restart procurement of red gram from farmers at 14 procurement centres in Gulbarga and Bidar districts. He said that a decision has already been taken to release Rs. 5 crores from the revolving fund for procuring red gram.

Dissatisfied with this announcement, Mr. Patil and Mr. Tanga said that the amount is insufficient to procure the Rs. 500-crore worth red gram produced in the two districts this year.

The president of the Red Gram Growers' Association and the Vice-President of the Janata Dal (United), Basavaraj Ingin, who also participated in the meeting, wanted the Government to purchase the red gram dumped in the market yard and participate in the auctions at the APMC yard to improve the price of red gram.

The leaders walked out of the meeting after their plea to allow the president of the samiti, Ramesh Duttargoan, who was arrested here on Tuesday, to participate in the meeting failed.

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