With Coronavirus positive cases on the rise in neighbouring Kerala, few villages in Karnataka - Tamil Nadu borders have decided to impose Rs 20,000 fine on labourers into banana harvesting who are taking the produce to markets in Kerala.
As the Mysuru and Chamrajnagar districts have Nendram banana variety in hundreds of acres ready for harvest they have no takers and even labourers to harvest the stocks.
This has made them sell it for throw away prices and they are taking the produce on their own to agents who have taken advantage of the situation.
Fearing that the labourers harvesting banana and taking it to market in Kerala may get affected by the to virus, the village headman in Bedamuddu announced not to load or unload in trucks going to Kerala.
Although majority of the villagers depend on loading banana and vegetables to markets in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the headman made a public announcement to look only into farming work as anyone venturing to banana harvesting must pay a huge fine of Rs 20000 .
This has put the farming community in the lurch as they are yet to recover from the crash in prices and Nendran variety banana is bought at Rs 10 a kilo when they had sold at Rs 35 a kilo earlier.
Basavanna, a farmer said that the government should intervene to buy the banana produce at a specific price and transport it to Kerala which would stop the exploitation of farmers and also the labour class.
The closure of chips factory has also added to crash in prices as many have stopped production as they could not supply to shops following lockdown .
There is no sign of functioning of chip factories as many fear that the lockdown may further continue worrying both the farmers and chip units , said Gururaj.
Meanwhile, the District administration keen to avoid the rush from the public at vegetable market in M G Road has decided to open six more markets in Dasara Exhibition Grounds, Lalith Mahal grounds, Srirampura BEML stop, Devanoor layout, Bannimantap and Vijayanagar second stage. Mayor Tasneem also inaugurated sale of vegetables in autorickshaws taking it to doorsteps to avoid the rush or spread of the virus.