Turmeric board in N’bad: BJP, TRS fight for credit

NIZAMABAD : In the run up to Assembly elections next year, the tug-of-war between TRS and BJP to take credit for setting the proposed Turmeric Park in the district has taken a new turn as leaders of both the parties have been reportedly pressuring the Centre to set up the said Park.At present the marketing of turmeric in Telangana is being monitored by the Spices Board in Kerala. As there has been no separate unit in the State to look after the turmeric-related issues, leaders of both the parties have urged to the Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu to announce a key decision on setting up of the park or Turmeric Board exclusively for Telangana. BJP and TRS leaders are of the opinion that announcement of the establishment of the park will help the parties to garner votes.   

TRS MP K Kavitha and Nizamabad district BJP leaders have been making continued efforts to set up  the park for the last few years now as turmeric is one of the 52 other crops which are monitored by the the Spices Board in Kerala. After repeated representations, the then Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave a nod to set up a separate unit for turmeric and decided to provide financial assistance for the same.  This was reiterated by Union Minister Suresh Prabhu with K Kavitha when the latter met the minister two days back and submitted a memorandum on the Turmeric Board issue. Recently, Kavitha claimed that the government’s decision will be announced when the minister visits the district next month. 

Meanwhile, the BJP leaders have plans to convene a meeting for turmeric farmers in Armoor. The leaders of all TS districts have planned to visit Delhi once again along with the national leaders to meet the Union Minister.  Kavitha, meanwhile, has claimed that the Union Minister has decided to provide `20 crore for the Turmeric Park, for which the State government has allocated `30 crore for the project in Velpur on a whopping 42 acres of land.