FM Nirmala Sitharaman to convene meeting to address coffee growers' issues: C T Ravi

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to call a meeting soon to address the problems faced by coffee growers in Karnataka, said Tourism Minister C T Ravi here on Tuesday.

Ravi, along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, met Union Finance Minister Sitharaman and appraised her of the problems faced by coffee and other plantation crop growers.

Emerging out of the meeting, Ravi told reporters that "we have appraised FM Sitharaman of the problems faced by plantation sector in Karnataka including price crash and pests. We have also requested her to take steps to prevent entry of low quality pepper from foreign countries. The Union Minister assured us to convene a meeting soon to find out a solution to the issue."

In a memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister, Ravi also demanded more relief measures, including GST exemption on crop inputs, for plantation growers of Chikkamagaluru district for sailing through the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

He sought relief measures at the earliest to protect the interest of coffee, areca, pepper and cardamom growers in the district. The state minister demanded the central government announce a cash relief to plantation growers, grant one year moratorium on repayment of short-term crop loans and development loans, besides restructuring the principal and unpaid interest on crop loans.

He also demanded the central government exempt GST on fertilisers, chemicals and nutrients in the current year and increase the rate of export incentive from 3 per cent to 5 per cent among others. The minister said that these relief measures are necessary as about 15,000 coffee growers in Chikkamagaluru district, who are paying nearly Rs 1,000 crore as tax to the government, are now in severe distress and financial crisis.

Ravi also called on Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju with a proposal for construction of multi-purpose indoor stadium and laying of synthetic athletic track at a district stadium in Chikkamagaluru.