Chilli farmers stage stir demanding compensation

GUNTUR: Farmers staged a protest demanding compensation as the quality of red chilli stocks deteriorated due to non-functioning of air conditioners in the cold storage at Reddygudem in Guntur district on Saturday. As the ACs were under repair at Sri Venkateswara Cold Storage in Reddygudem for the past few days, quality of 20,000 red chilli bags, each weighing 40 kg, deteriorated. 

The farmers came to know about it through workers at the storage unit and staged a protest for nearly an hour on Guntur-Hyderabad road at Reddygudem village. Farmers Narasimha Rao and Ranga Rao said that they paid `400 per bag to store the bags in cold storage. On receipt of information, police rushed to the spot and pacified the farmers. Sub-inspector Venkata Prasad said that cold storage owners Raju and Mahesh agreed to pay compensation to the farmers.