Cane crushing down to half in Kolhapur due to protests
KOLHAPUR: Sugar cane crushing in Kolhapur has reduced to nearly a half of the total crushing capacity of the sugar mills here due to protests and agitations initiated by the workers of former MP Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana SSS.
The crushing season officially started on November 1. However, the demands put up by the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, on behalf of the farmers, have not been met.
Shetti is demanding a price of Rs 400 per tonne for the sugar cane harvested last season. For the current season, Shetti has demanded that the mills should announce a price Rs 3,500 per tonne of sugar cane. He has been on a sit-in protest at Jaysingpur for the past six days, but the sugar mills are yet to approach him for a truce. The agitations — burning of the sugar cane-loaded carts, deflating tyres of the tractors and forceful stopping of harvesting work — have been violent at times.
Shirol and Hatkanangale are the most affected tehsils of Kolhapur district. Stray incidents of obstruction of sugar cane transport are reported almost every day from Sangli and Satara districts as well. Vijay Autade, a sugar industry expert, said: “All five sugar mills in the Shirol tehsils haven’t started functioning even two weeks into the crushing season. Some of the tehsils in other parts of the district have, however, started work. As per our estimate, nearly 50,000 tonnes of sugar cane is not being crushed due to the agitation. This will have a serious impact both on the farmers as well as the mills.”
Autade further said that as the sugar cane ripening stage has crossed, the cane weight has started declining. Farmers get price on the basis of cane weight. “If the cane weight declines, then farmers will get lower prices. Similarly, to ensure the mills break even, they should operate for 120 days. This year, due to low availability of sugar cane, the mills are already going to operate for less than 90-100 days. Ten days have gone without crushing operations,” said Autade.
Meanwhile, Raju Shetti has demanded that the state should intervene at the earliest. He has decided not to allow ministers into Kolhapur district. To begin with, his supporters will stop Devendra Fadnavis from leaving the Kolhapur airport when he arrives on November 15.
After Ichalkaranji MLA Prakash Awade, who also runs a sugar factory, said that Shetti’s protest is to gain back the voters he lost in the 2019 LS election, Shetti said: “If Awade thinks like this, I dare him to get my demands fulfilled. I will not contest in the Lok Sabha election and will instead support Awade’s son, who is eager to contest from the Hatkanangale LS constituency.”
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