Rajkot: Talala Congress MLA Bhagvanbhai Barad began an indefinite hunger strike, while four of his fellow party MLAs sat on a dharna outside collector’s office in Veraval, headquarters of Gir Somnath district over the issue of groundnut procurement.
They demanded that the government resume groundnut procurement at minimum support price (MSP), suspended since last few weeks over allegation of malpractices.
Una MLA Punja Vansh, Kodinar MLA Mohanbhai Vara and Somnath MLA Vimal Chudasama started dharna on Tuesday morning. The members of Jan Ahdikar Manch also joined them.
Pravin Ram, leader of Jan Adhikar Manch, said, “After the election, government has slowed down the process of groundnut procurement, closed procurement centres at Talala, Sutrapada, Una and Kodinar. We demand that government start these centres immediately.” After malpractice in procurement was found, government has closed procurement centres outside market yards and issued new set of rules including videography of the whole process.
