Guntur: Chilli farmers demand justice for crop damage

Guntur: Chilli farmers on Sunday staged a protest in front of Sri Siri Srinivasa cold storage unit at Phinrangipuram near Guntur city demanding justice.

The farmers residing at Vemavaram, Nudurupadu, Kandrika, Repudi and Talluru kept their red chilli stocks in cold storage unit at Phirangipuram to get a better price. However, they alleged that due lack of sufficient cooling in cold storage unit, huge quantities of chilli stocks were damaged.

The farmers said, 40,000 quintals of red chillis stock kept in the cold storage unit were damaged for not maintaining sufficient cooling in storage unit. They demanded action against the cold storage unit and demanded compensation to them.

The farmers poured red chilli stocks on the road and raised slogans against cold storage unit management. Due to protest, the vehicles on the both sides of highway came to stand still.

The farmers feared that due to lockdown, the red chilli prices have been falling in domestic and international markets. Due to less demand, the traders will offer throw away price to damaged red chilli stocks, they said.

They demanded the district administration to provide justice to them. When the traffic stranded, the police rushed to the spot and pacified the farmers to withdraw their agitation. Later, they withdrew their protest.