GUNTUR: Farmers in Guntur are deeply concerned following a series of incidents where chilli traders allegedly sold stocks stored in cold storage without the farmers’ knowledge.
Over the past few weeks, three cases have surfaced in which vendors, with the help of cold storage management, duped both farmers and banks by illegally selling the produce stored in cold storage.
In one alarming incident, a cold storage owner took out a loan of Rs 30 crore on both the cold storage facility and the chilli stock stored in it. Without repaying the initial loan, the owner reportedly secured a second loan from the bank on the same stock, leaving farmers completely in the dark.
Guntur, home to Asia’s largest mirchi yard, has over 150 cold storage facilities. Farmers store their produce there, hoping to get better prices during the selling season.
Currently, over 45 lakh bags of mirchi are stored in these cold storage units.
One recent case involved a businessman from Old Guntur, who last year unauthorisedly leased a cold storage unit. Farmers from Prakasam and Kurnool districts had stored over 9,700 bags of mirchi worth Rs 3 crore. The businessman sold 2,500 bags, worth Rs 99 lakh, and secured loans of Rs 66 lakh from multiple banks by submitting fake documents.
Upon receiving complaints from bank officials, the Nallapadu police, under the direction of district collector Nagalakshmi and SP Sathish Kumar, launched an investigation.
‘Stolen stock will be returned to farmers’
A police officer, speaking anonymously, assured that the recovery of the stolen mirchi stocks would be completed in the coming days, and the amount will be returned to the affected farmers.
Guntur District Assistant Director of Marketing B Raja Babu noted that farmers from other districts often rely on local middlemen to store their produce. These middlemen handle storage transactions, leaving farmers vulnerable to scams.
According to regulations, farmers must personally sign the bonds when storing their produce, ensuring that middlemen or cold storage owners cannot take loans fraudulently.
In response, marketing department officials have increased surveillance on cold storage units and urged farmers to remain vigilant to avoid further incidents.