The sugarcane growers have decided to relau-nch their agitation before the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore from March 7 seeking fulfillment of their demands.
President of Sugarcane Growers Association Kuruburu Shanthkumar told reporters here on Tuesday the state government had failed to address the problems of the cane growers. “The BJP-led government in the state has been indifferent to the problems faced by the cane growers and is continuing its step-motherly attitude towards them,” alleged Shantkumar.
He said, the government had not taken any step to implement the State Advisory Price (SAP) for sugarcane despite chief minister B S Yeddyurappa promising that it would do so. “The farmers are hit hard as they are unable to get an appropriate price for their produce. Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have enforced SAP and the governments have fixed the price sugarcane at Rs 2,300 and Rs 2,100 respectively,” he said.
Shantkumar accused the sugar factories of exploiting farmers and offering them a low price in the absence of the SAP. Stating that there has been no uniformity in the price offered by factories to sugarcane growers, Shanthkumar said the sugar factories in Hyderabad-Karnataka region are purchasing cane at Rs 1,500 per tonne, while in north Karnataka the price offered is Rs 1,500 per tonne. In Dakshina Kannada the factories are paying Rs 1,300 per tonne. “There has been an undue delay in making payments and the factories have to pay a huge sum. As per the rules they have to make payments within 15 days,” he said.
He informed that so far 60 per cent of the crushing has been completed in Belgaum district which has the highest number of factories. “The factories have stopped crushing cane from the district and are purchasing cane from other regions.