Taken aback by Centre’s decision to support procurement of a mere 3.37 lakh quintals of chillies, the State government on Thursday shot off a letter to the former to revise assistance for the entire 30 lakh quintals still with the farmers as they headed to market yards with falling prices. Minister T. Harish Rao who addressed a press conference in the morning alleging that the Centre had deceived the State government and farmers addressed the letter in the evening to Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh. He sought the Central aid for 30 lakh quintals at ₹7,000 a quintal for first quality chillies and a separate rate may be decided for second and subsequent qualities. He recalled that more than six varieties of chillies were grown in Telangana.
On perusal of the Central orders issued on Wednesday about market intervention scheme proposals for procurement of chillies at Rs 5,000 a quintal and handling charges of Rs 1,250 a quintal, Mr. Rao said it was a big disappointment to farmers that the chillies with Fair Average Quality (FAQ) already fetched them a price above Rs 5,000 quintal in major markets of Khammam and Warangal.
The government approved a meagre 3.37 lakh quintals while a major quantity of 30 lakh quintals of chillies still remained with farmers. Therefore, there was a need to procure the balance 30 lakh quintals extending the deadline up to June 30.
Mr. Rao sought the intervention of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India or any other Central agency to lift the stocks and store them at any other available place in the country as the storage capacity in the State was filled. The stocks may be disposed of by exporting to other countries in coordination with Commerce Ministry. Incentives could be given to exporters and imports banned.
