HYDERABAD: Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy requested Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya to prevail upon the Centre to release sufficient funds through market intervention scheme so that the State government could procure chillies at `7,000 per quintal.
At a meeting here on Saturday, the Agriculture Minister informed Dattatreya that they had already submitted proposals to this effect to the Union government to provide remunerative price for chilli farmers, who have been resorting to distress sale.
Dattatreya convened the meeting to discuss the problems of agriculture in the state. During the meeting, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy urged Dattatreya to ensure that the Centre release funds liberally to the State so that the income of farmers could be doubled by 2022.
Laundry list of demands
The Agriculture Minister also wanted Dattatreya to see that the Centre sanctions another 3,000 polyhouses to the State.
The Minister also sought the intervention from the Centre to make the National Rural Employment Guarntee Scheme NREGS scheme more efficient with sufficient funding.
The Central government should pass an Act to curb the sale of spurious seeds, Pocharam demanded. He added though Union Agriculture Ministry sanctioned 2,000 soil testing labs, only 650 were started so far and the funds should be released for the remaining 1,350 labs.
The agriculture minister also urged Dattatreya to ask the Centre to implement PM Fasal Bima Yojana (crop insurance scheme) in a proper manner.
The State sent proposals for the construction of ten cold storages in the state and wanted Dattatreya to see that the funds were released at the earliest.