In a letter to Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, copies of which were issued to the press also, here today, Ram Lal said that the HPMC and the HIMFED - the two governmental agencies which purchased fruit under the market intervention scheme should be asked to release the payments of the fruit growers immediately. He added that the fruit growers were facing financial problems due to poor crops during the past five years and this situation should not be allowed to grow further.

Demanding payments in cash, the former Chief Minister said that the growers apprehended that the payment might be made in kind, in the shape of items like fertilizers, insecticides, power sprayers, fungicides, pesticides and the implements needed for horticultural operations etc. So, he asked the Chief Minister that the major portion of the payment should be made in cash.

He strongly urged the Chief Minister that the governmental agencies should not be allowed to make it an occasion to dispose of the old stocks of horticultural inputs and exported insecticides. He further said that in the past, the fruit growers had vehementaly resented the payment in other modes instead of cash.