Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Special Correspondent

Task force to defend use of areca

The State Areca Task Force has decided to constitute a five-member expert committee to argue that areca is not harmful to health, said BJP MLA Araga Jnanendra, who is also president of the task force.

Addressing a press conference after chairing a meeting of the task force in Shivamogga on Tuesday, Mr. Jnanendra said the committee would include experts from technical institutes, agriculture universities and areca growers. “The task force is prepared to place its argument in defence of areca in the courts”, he said.

The task force has also appealed to the Centre to restrict import of areca so that the native growers get good price. Similarly, the scheme of minimum support price should be extended to areca as well, the MLA said.

The task force had appealed to the State government to earmark ₹10 crore in the next budget for the task force’s activities. The government had already released ₹3.5 crore..

Sagar MLA Hartal Halappa, Malnad Development Authority chairman K.S. Gurumurthy and others were present.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.