Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur calls apple growers for talks on July 28

shimla: On warpath with the BJP government over hike in the prices of cartons and packing material, apple growers representatives will meet Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Thursday in Shimla to resolve some of their contentious issues.

It is only after massive protest rallies by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a representative body of apple producers, that the Chief Minister had extended an invitation to them to listen to their grievances and try to find a solution ahead of the apple harvest season.

Sanjay Chauhan, co-convenor, SKM said here on Tuesday that the organization has sent a 21 point demand charter to the government as agenda for the talks, which primarily

included scrapping of GST on the apple cartons and withdrawal of the hike on the

apple trays.

"Our's is an open book. We want issues of the apple growers, cash crop producers and farmers be resolved without any delay.

The Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) should be restructured on the lines of Kashmir to give procurement price of Rs 60, 44 and 24 respectively for grade A, B and C apples," he said.

"We have received an invitation from the government for the July 28 meeting.

The meeting will be attended by the representatives of various apple growers associations unconditionally yet will insist for solutions relating to GST and hike on the packing material," Chauhan said. Himachal Pradesh's apple economy, which is worth Rs 6,000 crore has been under stress due to multiple factors including climate change and the increasing cost of the inputs.

The growers have threatened to gherao Himachal Pradesh secretariat if the issues listed in the memorandum are not resettled before the current apple season.

The SKM had held huge protests on July 11 and July 20, which has forced the government to invite the growers for a meeting, said Harish Chauhan, convenor of the SKM.

The early apple varieties had already hit the markets with growers mainly complaining about a very high cost of the packing material, inputs like pesticides and fertilizers, apart from faulty MIS scheme.

The market, so far is good though there has been an initial drop in the price of box by Rs 200 to 300 per 20 kg box, the growers say.