Dharna for black gram purchase centres

Gudivada: Black gram farmers staged a dharna at the local RDO office here on Monday demanding purchase centres in the division. The dharna was held under the auspices of various associations of farmers and tenant farmers in the division. Speaking on the occasion, the Krishna district Rythu Sangham secretary Allam Nancharayya said that farmers were incurring heavy losses due to the faulty and lopsided policies being pursued by the government from time to time. The government seems to be more interested in publicity than implementation of its policies, he observed. The government which is blind to the rising prices of pesticides and fertilizers has failed to lift black gram stocks even at half the price of the minimum support price announced by the government, he alleged. The black gram farmers have been resorting to distress sale of their produce at Rs 3200 a quintal resulting in huge losses. He criticised the government decision to open purchase centre at Vuyyuru where there was no need, ignoring the demand of the farmers in the lower division. He demanded the government to open more purchase centres in Gudivada division. He threatened to intensify the agitation if the government failed to open centres. Later, a delegation of farmers submitted a memorandum to the RDO. CPM division secretary RCP Reddy, Raythu Sangham leader Neelam Muralikrishna Reddy, V Papa Rao, Malireddy Prabhakar Reddy, P Prasad, P Narasimha Rao, M Rami Reddy, V Rajendra Prasad among others participated in the programme.