Hyderabad: Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao as asked the Centre to re-impose the cess on the import of palm oil, which was removed recently, to stabilise its prices for the local farmers. The government should give a price of Rs.18,000 per tonne to encourage farmers towards the crop, he wrote in a letter.
He said nearly two lakh acres had been brought under oil palm cultivation and the state government had signed agreements with 14 companies. He sought review of the viability gap funding principle of the Centre which was detrimental to Telangana state farmers’ interests.
Nageswara Rao also submitted a proposal for the establishment of an Indian Institute of Handloom Technology (IIH-T) in the state when he met the Union minister Piyush Goyal and the textile secretary Rachna Shah. The minister also met as part of his tour to Delhi and submitted a letter to him on the issue.
