Former Union Minister Chinta Mohan demanded that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy free the ₹60-crore vapour-heat treatment plant, funded by the Centre, at the mango yard in Tirupati from private parties and hand it over to mango growers.
Staging a protest in front of the plant near Shilparamam here along with Congress cadre and mango farmers, Dr. Mohan said that 15 years ago, the UPA government at the Centre established the vapor-heat treatment plant in Tirupati for the economic sustenance of mango farmers. “The plant envisaged export of high-quality mangoes to foreign countries after vapor treatment... It was from here that mangoes had been sent to the emperors of Japan. The objective of the plant is to bring one hundred times the profit to the farmers but they are struggling to get the MSP of ₹10 a kg,” Dr. Mohan said.
The Congress leader alleged that the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, when he was the Chief Minister, handed over the Central funded plant to a relative to run it privately. His son and incumbent Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy too remained silent to foster his nepotistic interests.
Chinta Mohan demanded that the State government and the district administration clarify within 24 hours the irregularities in handing over a government plant to a private individual. “I am going write to the Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of Parliament and Assembly on this issue,” the former minister said.
He said it was unfortunate that the Chittoor Collector reduced the MSP of mangoes from ₹19 in May to ₹12 a kg.
Dr. Mohan also termed the Yuva Galam walkathon of TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh’s a damp squib. The father-son duo was daydreaming of a return to power in the State, which would never happen, he said.
