Turmeric farmers burn Tamil Nadu's BJP manifesto in Armoor

Hyderabad: The turmeric farmers in Nizamabad on Thursday burnt the copies of BJP manifesto, which was released in Tamil Nadu promising Turmeric Board and denying it to Telangana.

The Union government, led by BJP, had replied to a question raised by TRS MP KR Suresh Reddy in the Rajya Sabha that Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry had already established a Regional Office-cum-Extension Centre of Spices Board at Nizamabad for export promotion of spices, including turmeric and there was no proposal to set up the board in Telangana.

Turmeric is one of the important spice crops in the country with a total production of 11.53 lakh tonnes, which accounts for 78 per cent of total turmeric production in the world. Telangana is the largest producer of turmeric with 3.86 lakh tonnes and has a cultivation area of 1.37 lakh acres.

The erstwhile Nizamabad district is one of the biggest centres of turmeric trade in Telangana. In the run-up to the 2019 general elections, BJP candidate Dharmapuri Arvind gave on a bond paper that he would convince the Centre to set up the Turmeric Board in Nizamabad if he was elected as MP. However, the promise remains unfulfilled and protests by turmeric farmers are being carried since then.

The farmers demanded the MP's resignation and questioned the dual stand of BJP on Turmeric Board.