Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday told the Legislative Assembly that the State government will not allow arecanut to be banned and that all steps have been taken to protect the interests of the growers.
Replying to Visveshwara Hegde Kageri of the BJP during the zero hour, he said that the government has appointed a senior counsel to argue the case in the Supreme Court to safeguard the interests of the arecanut growers. The Union government has been apprised of the issue and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had told him that there was no proposal before his Ministry to ban arecanut, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
The Chief Minister said that Additional Solicitor-General Indira Jaising had made an oral submission in the Supreme Court and there was no need to panic now.
Leader of the Opposition Jagadish Shettar, Mr. Kageri and D.N. Jeevaraj demanded that the government bring pressure to bear on the Union government to withdraw an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on the proposal to ban arecanut.
MaizeMinister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra told N.H. Konaraddi of the Janata Dal(S) that the government has relaxed the quantity of maize to be procured and it has been decided to set up procurement centres in villages.
