Andhra Pradesh: RTI Reveals Delay in Coffee Refinery for Tribals

Visakhapatnam: Tribals have used the Right to Information Act (RTI) to learn disappointing details regarding the progress of an integrated coffee refinery, which would have helped coffee seed growers.

The RTI information revealed that on March 20, 2022, the then YSRC government granted permission to the Andhra Pradesh Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC) to set up an integrated coffee refinery at Narsipatnam in Anakapalle district. For this purpose, the government sanctioned Rs 2.5 crore for starting the coffee refinery work. It deposited an additional Rs 1 crore into the GCC PD (personal deposit) account for establishing a coffee roasting and grinding unit.

However, the Tribal Welfare Department withdrew these funds from the GCC account.

On July 13, 2023, the YSRC government again deposited Rs 3 crore into the GCC PD account through the Tribal Welfare Department.

Following this, the deputy chief minister in charge of Tribal Welfare Peedika Rajanna Dora laid the foundation stone for the integrated coffee refinery at Daunur village in October 2023. He declared that as demanded by the Andhra Pradesh Bharatiya Adivasi Samakhya, the long-awaited integrated coffee refining plant will be completed in six months.

But the government released no further funds. The coffee refinery work stopped with the construction of pillars.

In this regard, Andhra Pradesh Indian Adivasi Federation president Gaduthuri Ramagopal charged the previous YSRC government with insincerity in establishing the integrated coffee processing plant.

Rajagopal demanded that at least the present TDP-led NDA alliance government allocate funds for completing the integrated coffee refinery.