Karnataka - Madikeri   

‘Announce coffee relief package soon’

Madikeri: Members of the Coffee Board from Kodagu on Thursday reiterated their appeal to the Union Government to take steps to announce the coffee debt relief package, including overdue term loans from 2002 till June 2009, at the earliest.

Addressing presspersons here, Tara Aiyamma, Nanda Belliappa, Chandramati Ganesh and Faiz Musa Kutty, members, said that the board at a meeting in Bangalore on January 7 passed a resolution urging the Centre to announce the package soon.

The package being considered by the Centre was long overdue and it should be announced immediately. The package proposal was now before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) headed by the Prime Minister.

The members sought an audience with Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma in New Delhi on January 27 to impress upon him to announce the much-needed package, Ms. Aiyamma said. Unseasonable rain from December 25 to 30, 2009, not only accounted for a huge loss of coffee crop in Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan districts, but also resulted in the untimely blossoming. This would affect the next year’s crop.

These districts received rain when growers were gearing up for a bumper harvest after many years.

The Centre paid Rs. 11.30 crore as insurance to growers for incurring loss against the Rs. 6.50-crore premium collected. The members would appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to direct the banks not to force the growers to repay their loans until the package was announced, Ms. Aiyamma said.

Ms. Aiyamma said that the district administration should take steps to disburse compensation to growers for suffering loss during 2007-08 and 2008-09. Similarly, growers in Hassan district and parts of Chikmagalur district too should be given compensation, she added.

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