ONGOLE: Incensed over increase in price, paper mills have stopped purchase of subabul and eucalyptus at market yards in Prakasam district for the last six days, causing hardship to farmers.

When district Collector B. Udaya Lakshmi convened a meeting last month to negotiate the price, the paper mill representatives flatly refused to increase the price on the plea that it would be burdensome for them.

Tacit pact

But farmers contended that the paper mills were already purchasing the produce by paying Rs. 100 to Rs. 150 a tonne more than the price fixed by the administration for the year 2006 because there was good demand for the timber grown in Prakasam district which is used for producing quality paper.

So, Ms. Udaya Lakshmi increased the price by Rs. 150 a tonne with effect from January 1. Angered by this, the paper mills tacitly agreed to boycott the purchases at regulated market yards. Some of them were purchasing the produce outside the markets at old rates. In this background, Subabul Farmers' Welfare Association leader N. Ranga Rao met the Collector here on Saturday and requested her to stop outside purchases. He said that the paper mills were trying to vitiate the regulated market developed for subabul and eucalyptus in Prakasam district and get back to days that prevailed before 1999 when the mills exploited the farmers with lower rates and under-weighment etc. Ms. Udaya Lakhsmi asked the Marketing Department to issue notices to the paper mills buying the produce outside and book cases against them.

Farmers' plight

Many farmers, who were fed up with tobacco crop or inadequate water supply in Nagarjuna Sagar tail-end areas, switched over to subabul and eucalyptus and planted them on 2.5 lakh acres in Prakasam district. They sell nearly 4 lakh tonnes per year to paper mills.

As the mills exploited the farmers, the district administration developed regulated market for the produce since 1999 in which millers should buy only at designated market yards paying fixed price to the farmers. Mr. Ranga Rao contends that the millers were now planning to destabilise the system.

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