CBI should probe kidney sale racket: Anbumani

There should be a CBI probe into the alleged kidney sale racket, said former Union Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday.

After inspecting a turmeric farmlands at Komarapalayam and Pallipalayam in Namakkal district during his 100-day padayatra titled ‘to reclaim the rights of Tamil people,”, he said that if the Tamil Nadu government was acting fairly in the kidney sale racket, why was it appealing in the Supreme Court against the High Court order for a Special Investigating Team (SIT) investigation? The truth would be known only if the CBI investigated the case. MP Kanimozhi, who spoke about total prohibition earlier, was not speaking about it now. She should ask Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to reduce the number of Tasmac outlets, Mr. Anbumani added.

Alleging that the DMK procured only one-third of the paddy in the past four years, Mr. Anbumani said that across Tamil Nadu, 4.80 crore tonnes of paddy were produced, but the government procured just 1.70 crore tonnes. In the past 60 years, these governments failed to provide basic infrastructure for storing paddy. While the Odisha government was giving ₹800 for farmers per quintal of paddy as incentive, Tamil Nadu gave only ₹81, Mr. Anbumani alleged.

Erode turmeric had got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. Tamil Nadu was in the third place in turmeric cultivation in India with a production of 1-1.25 lakh tonne and 80% of this came from Erode district. Though the DMK assured that it would fix minimum support price (MSP) for turmeric it had not done so. The farmers demanded a turmeric board and cold storage facility. The government should fix ₹25,000 as MSP per quintal and should approach the Union government to promote turmeric exports, he said.

Mr. Anbumani later met turmeric farmers at Nasiyanur in Erode district