Support price scheme by govt only namesake
Rs 10.84 crore Amount that reached banks towards distribution to farmers
Kottayam: The rubber farmers here have not yet received the benefits of the state government’s support price scheme announced three months back.
So far only Rs 10.84 crore of the Rs 300 crore earmarked for the scheme reached the banks to be distributed among the farmers.
But the rubber price has crashed further from Rs 128 a kilogram on July 4 to Rs 113 now. The scheme was part of finance minister KM Mani’s budget this year, intended to make up for the losses of farmers due to the price fall.
The support price was fixed at Rs 150 a kg and they were asked to submit the receipts and details of the commodity they sold to claim the benefit through the societies of the rubber producers.
The officials say there has been some obstructions in registrations for the support price.
After uploading the details from the respective societies, the field officers of the Rubber Board verify them and the amount transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
”No applications were registered ever since the month of August, and the officials say they haven’t received instructions from above,” said E.P. Mathew, secretary of the rubber producers’ society at Aruvikuzhy.
Raju Mathew, a smalltime grower with four acres of land at Pallikathodu, said, though he had registered three months before, he was yet to get the money.
“The government scheme intends to ensure that we got at least Rs 150 a kg. But that never reached us,” he said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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