Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the government will soon take a decision in favour of potato growers as the BJP government was committed to the development of the farming community.
The statement came after a high-level meeting of Group of Ministers (GoMs) held in lucknow on Monday. This is the third meeting of the GoM which was formed to find ways to provide relief to farmers, particularly potato growers.
“The high-level committee discussed the availability of cold storages in the state as well as in other parts of the country and tried to analyse whether they were enough to meet the requirement. We also discussed how farmers could export excess potato produced in the state and what are the conditions and objections of the farmers,” Maurya said in a statement issued in lucknow.
The Deputy CM said that issue of concessions given to farmers on state-run tube wells and on transportation was also discussed. “We also discussed the need of providing market to the farmers through various available schemes and what new could be done for them,” he said.
“Shortly we will come out with a hollistic policy which will be in the interest of the farmers. We may suggest even new Minimum Support Price (MSP) for potato,” Maurya said.
Besides Maurya, the meeting was attended by Agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Finance minister Rajesh Agarwal and Forest minister Dara Singh Chauhan.
This committee was formed after farmers allegedly dumped potatoes at VIP localities to highlight their plight on January 9. The committee was asked to submit its report in 15 days and also to suggest measures for extending relief to potato growers.