The Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha and Hasiru Sene on Tuesday held a demonstration demanding complete waiver of loans availed by farmers and immediate release of loan waiver amount announced last year to farmers’ bank accounts.
At the ‘Hakkottaya Sabhe’, organised in front of the district office here, sangha and sene secretary Ravikiran Punacha said the compensation announced to arecanut growers for the loss from fruit rot disease in 2017-18 should also be immediately credited to their accounts. They have lost crops in 2018-19 too, Mr. Punacha said and demanded at least ₹12,000 compensation per acre. The other demands included special package for arecanut growers suffering from yellow leaf disease to grow alternative crops; scientific compensation to those who have lost houses and other buildings during the 2019 rains; immediate disbursal of applications for regularising unauthorised dwellings (Akrama-Sakrama), and so on. Mr. Punacha noted that works in rural areas, including tank de-silting and road formation that were being undertaken under MNREGA appear to have stopped.
The government should revive such works and release grants immediately. The Karavali Package to encourage paddy cultivation should be implemented, he said. He noted that lakhs of people depending on rubber cultivation on about 40,000 hectares were severely affected following price crash. The government should announce a minimum support price of ₹17,000 per quintal and reserve ₹50 crore under market intervention programme.
