'Areca growers likely to get Rs 125 crore package from Centre'

Addressing a news conference, he said that responding to the request of the District Youth Congress, AICC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Rahul Gandhi have made a recommendation to the Finance Ministry to provide the said amount of Rs 125 crore.

He said that Youth Congress along with senior Congress leaders held a padayathra in the yellow leaf disease affected areas and then led a delegation to Delhi and discussed about the problems faced by the areca growers in the district with the central leadership. As a result of the same the centre is planning to release the package.
Meega said that the proposal for special package will be kept in the Parliament in the next two months and hence there is a need for facts, figures and statistics.

Youth Congress will take a delegation of growers to New Delhi on January 1.
He said that areca is grown in 1.27 hectare land in the country and in the district over 42,000 hectare land is used for areca cultivation. Over 16,800 hectare land used for areca cultivation are affected by yellow leaf disease. He said that they will urge the central government to increase the amount to Rs 300 crore.
He further said that in case growers have any additional information about the problems faced by them, then they could give the information to Youth Congress November 30.

Congress leaders D B Rajendra, B M Sudev, K G Dharmappa, Kaushik and others were present.