Telangana: TRS MLC Kavitha Slams BJP MP Arvind Dharmapuri Over Turmeric Board Vow

TRS Slams BJP: TRS MLC K Kavitha on Wednesday alleged that BJP leader and current Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri failed to keep his promise about bringing the turmeric board to the district

TRS MLC K Kavitha.

Source : Special arrangement

New Delhi: TRS MLC and former Nizamabad MP Kalvakuntla Kavitha on Wednesday alleged that BJP leader and current Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri failed to keep his promise about bringing the turmeric board to the district. The TRS leader said that Arvind had failed to persuade the union government to establish a Turmeric board in the district.

She also accused the MP of making tall claims of Rs 100 crore allocation, while every farmer made only Rs 200 of the turmeric board under his regime.

While addressing the media, Kavitha alleged that MP Arvind Dharmapuri and the BJP made false promises to the people of Nizamabad in order to just win an election and lose the faith of people. 

MLC Kavitha sought justice and transparency for the turmeric farmers of Nizamabad and asked the BJP to be accountable for their actions that the people of Nizamabad would seek an explanation for.

Kavitha stated that she didn’t speak on the subject for the last three years because she wanted to respect the mandate delivered by the people of Nizamabad and give the current MP time to do something regarding his promises to the farmers of the district. She also cited an RTI reply on the budget allocated with respect to turmeric-producing farmers.

పసుపు బోర్డు ఏర్పాటు విషయంలో బీజేపీ ఎంపీ ధర్మపురి అర్వింద్ అబద్దాలపై నిజామాబాద్ లో ఎమ్మెల్సీ శ్రీమతి @RaoKavitha మీడియా సమావేశం https://t.co/Z7FUcwF9NV

— TRS Party (@trspartyonline) May 4, 2022

The TRS leader claimed that BJP has deceived the turmeric farmer by not giving them what they were promised. "Mr Arvind, in the last three years could only get our farmers an allocation of Rs 1.92 crore for close to 1 lakh turmeric producing farmers. If you divide it between all of them, it boils down to less than Rs 200. All he did was deceive farmers by distributing a bond paper,” she remarked.

For the year 2020-21, a sum of Rs 1,18,71,000 was allocated out of which Rs 75 lakhs was assistance towards boilers and Rs 43.71 lakhs is for the assistance towards turmeric polishers, said the RTI reply that Kavitha shared.

Similarly, for 2021-22, a total of Rs 74.81 lakhs was allocated and Rs 39.73 lakhs went towards assistance for boilers, Rs 6.58 lakhs for turmeric polishers, and Rs 15 lakhs as assistance towards Silpaulin sheets, Rs 10 lakhs towards assistance for Spices Producers group in the identified cluster and Rs 3.50 lakhs for setting up basic quality testing equipment, the RTI reply stated.

Arvind had promised the farming community in the Nizamabad in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that he would get the turmeric board sanctioned if elected as MP and that he would get proper MSP fixed for both turmeric and red jowar.

"If he failed to keep both commitments, he had said that he would resign as a member of Parliament and join the farmers and people’s movement," Kavitha said.

In March 2019, Arvind went on to make a vow in writing and even signed it on a non-judicial (bond) stamp paper, that he would get a turmeric board. In the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, his team printed copies of the promise and distributed them in turmeric-growing areas.

The regional centre of the spices board was set up by the union government on February 14, 2020, but it did not satisfy the farming community, who had stated that nothing less than a full-fledged board is acceptable to them and the rallying cry for it continued. Kavitha said that the office of the regional spice board office has nothing but a few Nilkamal chairs and two people managing it. According to the RTI reply, the office conducted eight meetings in the period of 2020-21 via video conferences.

“Time has come now for Arvind to deliver on his bond paper promise. He should go around on his knees in Delhi around the offices of his masters if he really has the interest to serve the people of Telangana,” Kavitha remarked.