Bizz Buzz Bureau Amravati

AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has asked the tobacco companies to immediately start purchase operations to instill confidence among farmers and expedite the auction process. He made it clear that all tobacco must be procured at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the State Government and that the price should not fall below Rs 200 per kg.

Reviewing the current status of tobacco procurement with officials and traders at the Secretariat, Naidu questioned why traders had slowed down purchases in Andhra Pradesh though the problem was not there in Karnataka. Expressing dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Tobacco Board the Chief Minister warned tobacco companies against causing hardship to farmers.

He cautioned that companies should consider the long-term consequences if farmers shifted to alternative crops due to inadequate support.The Chief Minister reviewed the procurement commitments made by 28 companies and the actual purchases completed so far. He warned that companies which had submitted procurement indents but failed to honour will not be spared.He particularly criticised the slow pace of procurement by the three largest manufacturing companies—ITC Limited, Godfrey Phillips India Limited and VST Industries.

Together, these companies had submitted indents for 95.50 million kg of tobacco but had procured only 17.6 million kg so far.