Mysuru Vegetable Farmers Waiting For Pinarayi Vijayan Govt To Clear Payment Of Rs 55 lakh In Dues Since December

A total of 1,200 farmers from Mysuru are waiting for the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala to pay them for the vegetables they supplied the State government last year as reported by the The New Indian Express.

A Farmer’s Producer Organisation, FPO based in Mysuru, Raithamitra Farmers Producers, supplied vegetables directly to the Kerala State Horticultural Products Development Corporation (KSHPDC). They are still waiting to get paid Rs 54.23 lakh that has been pending since December 2020.

Kurubur Shantakumar, head of the FPO, details the challenges they faced while supplying vegetables, “We had gone to great lengths to ensure there was a continuous supply of vegetables. During the lockdown last year we paid the transporters double the usual amount to transport vegetables. During the floods, we even routed them through Coimbatore and made sure they reached,”.

FPO member farmers even contributed Rs 5 lakh and donated it to the Kerala CM’s relief fund during the flood last year, Shantakumar adds.

A team of farmers members even visited the KSHPDC Horticorp CEO and other officials, but they were returned without meeting.