Reiterating his government’s commitment to ensuring welfare of farmers, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said that the Agriculture Price Commission will be set up next month to provide justifiable prices for agriculture commodities.
Speaking after launching development work estimated at Rs. 300 crore in Indi taluk on Sunday, he said that the formation of the commission was one of the promises made by the Congress in its election manifesto.
Admitting that farmers were not getting “scientific” prices for their produces, the Chief Minister said that the commission will address this issue.
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Stating that providing irrigation facility was one of the primary objectives of the government, he said that efforts are on to complete work on all irrigation projects coming under Upper Krishna Project within five years.
“The Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal has awarded 130 tmcft of water to the State, of which 80 tmcft will be utilised for irrigation projects in Bijapur district.
“The government is ready to offer adequate funds for these projects to complete work in a time-bound manner,” he said.
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Stating that Karnataka has the highest number (23.6 per cent) of poor people among all southern States, followed by Tamil Nadu with 22 per cent, the Chief Minister said that welfare programmes such as Anna Bhagya had been launched only with the objective of reducing this number. Ministers M.B. Patil and S.R. Patil were, among others, present.