LUCKNOW: Upset over low prices, potato farmers allegedly took their fight to the state capital Saturday by dumping tonnes of rotten potatoes on the roads in front of state Assembly, Raj Bhavan and the chief minister’s residence, catching Lucknow police unawares.
While the district administration called it a mischief, CM Yogi Adityanath assured the potato farmers of increasing the support price of their produce, if needed.
Lucknow DM Kaushal Raj Sharma said a truck carrying sacks of potato dumped them in various parts of the city Saturday morning. “Whether this has been done by the farmers or by someone else is yet to be ascertained. So far, no farmers’ group has claimed responsibility for this act,” he said.
The potato growers of the state have been demanding a wholesale price of at least `10 per kg against `4 per kg they are getting now in the market.
For the first time, the Yogi government had fixed the minimum support price for potato at `487 per quintal in a bid to encourage farmers. However, majority of potato growers feel that an export policy for potato and also its processing should be implemented in order to provide a suitable market to the produce.
CM Yogi Adityanath, who was in Meerut, reiterated his commitment to safeguard potato growers’ interests on priority and appealed them not to get swayed by divisive forces. But Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma and state agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi smelt a political conspiracy behind the incident, and described it as an Opposition ploy.
As the issue snowballed, SSP Deepak Kumar asserted that the farmers’ organisation behind the move and the vehicles used to ferry the produce had been identified, and would be booked soon.