Mangalore : Konkodi Padmanabha Bhat, President of the Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative (CAMPCO) said that the Supreme Court’s order to ban the sale of tobacco products in plastic sachets from March 1 has affected the areca growers of the region.
He was speaking at the press meet held at the Campco office on Feb 24, Thursday. He said that the Supreme Court’s gave a verdict on December 7, 2010 as per the government’s report submission stating, that around 90 per cent of oral cancer cases are caused due to chewing of tobacco.
The ban has affected the trade of arecanut in the regions like Davanagere and Shimoga affecting lakhs of areca growers. The price of white and red arecanut reduced to Rs 20 per kg, he added.
Further he urged the central government to intervene in the matter and convince the Supreme Court regarding the problems faced by the areca growers.
The heads of Campco and Mampco will meet Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily in this regard as soon as possible.
Speaking on the support price, he said that the growers must get the support price of Rs 114 for white and Rs 148 for red arecanut based on the report prepared by Arecanut Research and Development Foundation (ARDF). The amount of Rs 500 crores must be sanctioned by the Central government to meet this demand, he said.
The Supreme Court must give the duration of one year for the ban, in order to find the alternate system by the gutka industries.
Executive Director of Campco AS Bhat, Vice President of All India Arecanut Growers Association Narasimha Nayak and Srinivas Nayak were present.