HC seeks action plan to promote mango sale

The High Court on Tuesday, directed the State government to submit an action plan to promote the sale and procurement of mangoes across State and warned that it would have to summon the chief secretary if the government failed to act.

Hearing a petition filed by the Kolar District Mango Growers and Sellers Association, the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna asked the government to submit a detailed report on the implementation of the programmes vis-a-vis mango sale and procurement.

During the hearing, the State government submitted that following the High Court directions, it had set up two HOPCOMS stalls, while the Karnataka Agriculture Marketing Board had released Rs 10 lakh to HOPCOMS to procure mangoes.

They also submitted that two persons of the cadre equal to the Additional Director, Agriculture Marketing Board, and Joint Director, the Department of Horticulture, have been appointed personally to oversee the procurement of mangoes.

However, when the petitioner pointed out that there was no action taken by the State government, other than the submissions before the court, the Chief Justice lashed out at the government saying, “We do not want your submissions just on papers. We want what has been submitted (before the court) to be implemented. If there is no action taken, we will be forced to summon the chief secretary.”

S S Naganand, senior counsel and amicus curiae, said many improvements introduced in the recent past in HOPCOMS had been undone because of political interference, and its turnover had reduced drastically in the last two years.

He pointed out that facilities at mango melas were not sufficient as no assistance was given to the growers, which includes space for marketing produce and amenities.

Though the horticulture department states that it has provided cultivators subsidy for cold storage facilities and packing, more needs to be done, he said. No effort is made to produce value-added products like pulp, concentrate, juice, essence flavours and packaging of ripe fruits.

The amicus curiae suggested that the court consider and appoint a monitoring committee chaired by the chief secretary and a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, the Department of Horticulture, the Department of Agriculture Marketing and a representative of the growers. He also sought a time-bound plan of action for short-term and long-term measures to improve the plight of mango growers.