Karnataka

Government urged to establish maize procurement centres

DAVANGERE: The Bharatiya Raitha Okkuta has demanded that the district administration set up maize procurement centres in all taluk headquarter towns so that farmers are not exploited by agents or middlemen.

Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, C. Narasimhappa, president of the okkuta, said a record yield of 10 lakh tonnes of maize was expected this year.

Maize was cultivated on over four lakh acres in the district, and as there had been good rainfall, good yield was expected.

Mr. Narasimhappa said that in the wake of the huge production, farmers feared that the price of the crop might come down owing to a glut.

Many dealers, agents, middlemen and exporters might also exploit farmers.

He appealed to the district administration to set up procurement centres at the earliest and announce a minimum support price so that farmers were not affected. He said the Union Government had announced a support price of Rs. 840 a quintal, and the State Government had promised a bonus of Rs. 30 a quintal. Farmers would, therefore, get Rs. 870 a quintal of maize, he said.

The raitha okkuta also urged the State Government to take control of the Bhadra Sugar Factory in Bathi and sell it. It said the factory had closed down four years ago, but farmers had not yet been paid their dues. Employees of the factory had not been given their salaries. The management of the factory had not made any effort to restart the factory, but had in fact, thwarted attempts to have it sold.

The factory had taken loans totalling Rs. 40 crore from different financial institutions. The Government had called for tenders six times to sell the unit, but an entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, who was running sugar factories successfully both in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, was threatened with dire consequences if he bid for it, Mr. Narasimhappa alleged. He said many entrepreneurs had shown interest in buying the factory for more than Rs. 100 crore and demanded that the Government liquidate the asset.

The State Government had ordered sugar factories to reimburse farmers for transportation charges and harvesting expenses incurred, just like those in north Karnataka had been doing, Mr. Narasimhappa said and wanted the rules to be made applicable to all such factories throughout the State.

Mr. Narasimhappa also questioned the need for the Central team’s visit to the State to gauge the situation following the attacks on churches and prayer halls. He said the Union Government could not dismiss an elected government based on the report of a few officials.

He said if there were any lapses on the part of the State Government in protecting churches and members of various minority communities, or if there was substantial loss of human life or damage to public and private property, only then could the Centre take any action.

There were times when the Union Government had dismissed an elected State government for which the former had come under sharp criticism from the Supreme Court.

He said the attacks on churches were spontaneous and people who were fed up with forcible conversions had protested against such activities.

He said it was not right to blame the State Government for these attacks, as it had not sponsored them. A high-level inquiry would reveal the truth behind these attacks, Mr. Narasimhappa said and added that they were politically motivated.

Farmer leaders Lingaraju and Shanbhog Narajappa were present.

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