Hyderabad Dec. 1: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, is under pressure to give incentives to rich palm growers. What is interesting is that it is the agriculture minister, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, who is lobbying for them. The former minister and Praja Rajyam leader Mr K. Vidyadhar Rao is also one of the palm growers. Mr Rao’s family owns several palm farms and his constant enquiries on a government’s decision also figured in the the meeting held by the Chief Minister, sources said. Mr Raghuveera Reddy asked the Chief Minister to announce a cash incentive of Rs 1,000 per quintal to palm seed growers as he claimed that the farmers were paid little. The oil extracting companies offered to pay Rs 4,200 per quintal. He even suggested that the state and Centre could bear Rs 1,000 equally.
“The price is determined every quarter depending on prices in the international market,” a senior agriculture department official said adding that farmers were paid as high as Rs 6,000 when prices of palm oil crossed Rs 60 per kilo. The officials were believed to have told the Chief Minister that majority of farmers were rich and would get a better price when market conditions change.
Sources said the issue of granting licences to new oil extracting plants also ran into trouble because of the conflict of interest in the ruling party leaders. The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation submitted a list of eligible applicants from 108 companies for this to the government. It did not explain reasons for selection.
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