Kisan Khet Congress State president Anwesh Reddy said on Monday that farmers were irked over the ‘indifferent attitude’ of the authorities and government in ensuring minimum support price (MSP) for turmeric and red jowar in the district.

Talking to the media after discussing the issue with Collector M. Ram Mohan Rao here on Monday, he said that the State Government has been trying to shrug its responsibility with regard to MSP for turmeric and red jowar by passing the buck to the Central Government. “The State Government can purchase the crops by providing ₹10,000 bonus, which was being done in other states,” he said.

“Turmeric is less than ₹5,000 per quintal at the local market whereas in Sangli market in Maharashtra, farmers are getting ₹8,000 and above. Citing low curcumin per cent, traders are rejecting turmeric but there are no machines to calculate it,” he said.

Mr. Anwesh Reddy said that if both the crops were purchased directly by the Government or its agencies, the issue would have been resolved by now. As the Government was not responding positively, farmers were restive and have been protesting for the last 15 days.

Earlier, farmers from several villages arrived at the Collectorate to stage a dharna. The Collector promised farmers to take up the issue with the Government.