Guntur - The crisis continues at the chilli market yard here, the largest in the state and the country, as a huge number of bags of chilli (3 lakhs, according to one estimate) piled up in the market yard which remained closed since Saturday. The market re-opens on Wednesday.

Prices crashed at the market yard here this season to less than Rs 5,000 per quintal from a level of Rs 12,000-14,000 per quintal last year due to overproduction of chillies and the glut in the market. The State Government announced a price support scheme, offering Rs 1,500 more per quintal in addition to the market price, and the scheme is being implemented from April 20.

Since April 20, farmers from different districts of Andhra Pradesh as well as some Telangana districts are bringing the produce to the yard on a large scale, though the scheme is not applicable to farmers from Telangana. The market is swamped with chilli bags and there is no room in the cold storage units here or elsewhere in the neighbouring districts.

As the chilli market crisis continued, the opposition Y.S.R Congress leader, Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, began a two-day "deeksha" (protest programme) here on Monday, the May Day, in the vicinity of the chilli market yard, demanding that the State Government take urgent steps to ensure a remunerative price to chilli, turmeric and other crops. He alleged that the Telugu Desam-BJP Government was completely ignoring the interests of the farmers in spite of the many promises made in the election manifesto.

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