Addressing a press conference here, he alleged that the middlemen exploit the situation of shortage of labourers and fix the labour charges according to their will. Growers, who face the problem of shortage of labourers, were forced to pay excessive wage, he added.
Middlemen collect anything between Rs 150 and Rs 300 as labour charge.
However, they do not pay the amount to labourers properly, Gowda charged. Middlemen also collect upto Rs 3 lakh from growers as advance to supply labourers to coffee plantations, he said and urged that there should be a direct relation between labourers and growers.
Forum secretaries Makodu Dayananda, Byaravalli Nagaraj, members Holagadde Girish among others Narayana Gowda were present at the programme.
Published 31 May 2009, 17:02 IST