Hyderabad/New Delhi, March 16 (Maxim News): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy today lashed out at BJP Government for not fulfilling the assurance of setting up a separate turmeric board in Nizamabad district of Telangana.
Raising the issue in Lok Sabha during Question Hour on Tuesday, Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed dissatisfaction over the reply given by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare to his specific question on whether there was a proposal with the Central Government to set up a Turmeric Board. He said instead of answering the specific question, the government was talking about the Spice Board looking after turmeric also.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said farmers have been agitating for many years for a separate Turmeric Board. He said Union Minister Rajnath Singh and Prakash Javedkar and BJP leader Ram Madhav gave specific assurance while campaigning for BJP candidates in last Lok Sabha elections that a Turmeric Board would be set up. He said nearly 80% of the world’s turmeric gets produced in India and half of it is grown in one district of Telangana (Nizamabad) alone. He said despite the assurance, the Turmeric Board has not been set up.
“What is the problem in setting up a Turmeric Board? There is no great financial cost. Land has already been allotted by the previous government,” he said adding that the turmeric farmers were neither getting Minimum Support Price nor any market intervention. He said turmeric was a high cost export crop wherein farmers invest about Rs. 1.5 lakh per acre. “Why is the government not coming up with a Turmeric Board like Coconut or Tobacco Boards where you can give better varieties and facilitate exports?” he asked. (Maxim News)
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