Rescue turmeric farmers from crisis, Dharmapuri urges CM

HYDERABAD: Turmeric farmers were in dire straits and the state government must explain the steps it was taking or wanted to take to provide relief to them, said BJP Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind here on Monday.

Addressing a press conference, Arvind said excessive rains had damaged turmeric crop by 70 to 80 per cent and it was time for Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to announce market intervention schemes that the state government uses to rescue affected farmers. He said there was no assistance during the last two years.

Referring to a question he posed in the Lok Sabha whether the state sought any assistance from the Centre in this regard, he said that the government had not sought any help.

“Rao must make it clear if he will initiate MIS and write to the Centre seeking assistance. Between 2020-21 and 2022-23, the Telangana government budgeted around `1,600 crore for MIS but not a single penny of this was spent as per the state government’s audit reports,” he said.

Arvind also said that in the five years K. Kavitha was the Nizamabad MP, only 13 boilers and five polishing machines were made available for turmeric farmers in the district.

“But in just a year after Covid, the Centre had granted 139 boilers and 274 polishing machines. And against zero tarpaulins given to farmers when Kavitha was the MP, farmers have been given 7,240 in the last 18 months,” he said.
Minister V. Prashant Reddy, who represents Balkonda constituency that falls in Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, must take initiative to have the state government take urgent steps to rescue turmeric farmers, Arvind said.