Hyderabad: A farmer attempted to commit suicide in the Bowenpally vegetable market when Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niran-jan Reddy visited the market on Wednesday morning.
Though the farmer, Gowardhan Reddy, was prevented from ending his life, the issue of underpayment for crops brought by farmers to market was highlighted by him. Earlier, dockers (a person employed to load and unload) in the vegetable market demanded that the weight of vegetable bags be decreased from 80 kg to 60 kg. Farmers protested in front of the market committee office when the minister was visiting the market to review the cotton kharif marketing season.
Sources said that when the farmers wanted to meet the minster to bring the issue to his notice, they were stopped by the police.
Disappointed by this, Gowardhan Reddy doused himself with kerosene but fellow farmers immediately poured water over him.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, M. Chandra Rao, president of the Telangana Rythu Sangham, said, “The commission agents are looting the farmer in the name of overweight. If the weight of the bag brought by the farmer is over 60 kgs they usually impose a penalty of eight kilos on the bag.”
Dockers who load and unload the bags are paid by the farmers, but the licence to work in the market is given by the marketing department. The traders are instigating the dockers to protest so that they can profit by not paying for the extra weight. The Labour Act states that the weight of a bag should not be over 60 kg so that it does not put too much stress on the dockers. Mr Rao said it is difficult for farmers to weigh the bags on their agricultural lands.
