Karnataka   

A truck load of tomatoes for Deputy Commissioner

A wall of red: Farmers sit beside a heap of tomatoes in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to press for their long-standing demand for a minimum support price for the crop in Kolar on Tuesday.

KOLAR: The fortnight-long agitation by tomato growers in the district demanding minimum support price of Rs. 5 a kg of tomato, took a new turn on Tuesday. Under the aegis of Kolar Jilla Tomato Belegarara Horata Samithi, scores of farmers dumped a load of tomatoes in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office to register their protest against the failure of the Government in protecting their interests.

Led by Samithi leaders Eshwarappa Doddahasada, Ramakrishna Gowda and Holur Shankar, the farmers took out a procession from the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee yard on the outskirts of the town.

They took along a load of tomatoes in the tractor with them.

The protesters, while urging Rs. 5 as MSP for a kilo of tomato, also demanded a permanent solution to the crisis.

Tomato growers in Kolar and Chickballapur district are staging various forms of agitations including road blockade, to press the Government to concede to their demands. “The Government is misleading the farmers and the public about the MSP for tomato,” Mr. Shankar said. “The unresolved tomato price crisis in the region exposes the hollowness of the claims of the Bharatiya Janata Party Government that it is a pro-farmer Government,” he said.

In a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa through district authorities, the samithi has urged the Government to convene a meeting with the farmers to discuss the issue.

It also demanded an effective market intervention policy to provide relief to farmers whenever such a situation arises.

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