Mandsaur (Madhya Pradesh): Opium Cultivators Organisation has asked Central government to announce new opium policy soon.
Farmers said that every year, hundreds of farmers were deprived of cultivating opium due to delay in declaration of the policy. They said that they would have to bear the brunt of the weather if the new policy was not announced on time.
They also threatened to launch a sit-in against the Central government if poppy market was started in Neemuch.
Farmer leaders Amritram Patidar, Yogendra Joshi and Khubchandra Sharma said that opium cultivators and farmers were suffering the brunt of wrong policies of Central government. Morphine method was beyond farmers’ comprehension and farmers were being exploited economically in the name of morphine method, they added.
Farmers were being intimidated and scams were reported openly but there was no one to listen. The silence of regional MP was an example of inaction, they further added.
Amritram Patidar and Yogendra Joshi said that in Neemuch Mandi, the Mandi Board has given licenses to buy poppy seeds, but with connivance of market board and traders, poppy seeds were not being bought from the farmers, forcing them to sell them at throwaway prices. If the system does not improve by September 27, then Neemuch Mandi would be gheraoed, they said.
Farmer leaders vented their ire over injustice and demanded that Centre should allot 10-10 land pattas to each farmer at the end of September every year.
They also demanded new opium policy and abolition of morphine system. The cancelled license of previous years should be restored and rate of opium be fixed at Rs 10,000 per kg, they demanded.
