Karnataka: Farmers remain firm on Rs 5,500 per tonne demand
Karnataka sugarcane farmers are demanding ₹4,500 per tonne from sugar mills and an additional ₹1,000 per tonne in state support. Farmer leaders cited rising cultivation costs and urged the Centre to raise sugar’s minimum selling price to ₹5,000 per quintal, warning that protests would continue until demands are met.
Belagavi: Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha and Hasiru Sene State president Chunappa Pujeri said farmers remained firm on their demand for a price of Rs 4,500 per tonne of sugarcane from sugar factories, along with an additional support price of Rs 1,000 State Advised Price (SAP) per tonne from the state government, to be paid from the revenue generated.
The farmers’ next course of agitation will be decided at a meeting scheduled to be held at the protest venue in Gurlapur village of Mudalgi taluk on Wednesday.
Cultivation cost
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Pujeri said Chief Minister D K Shivakumar had held discussions with farmers’ representatives and sugar factory owners until after midnight on Monday. While sugar factories had offered Rs 3,500 per tonne, farmers were demanding Rs 4,500 per tonne, citing rising sugarcane cultivation costs and the fact that sugar was being sold at Rs 5,000 per quintal.
He said the Centre should ensure that the minimum selling price of sugar was raised to at least Rs 5,000 per quintal so that farmers’ demand for a higher sugarcane price could be met.
According to Pujeri, the CM had sought two days’ time to consider the demand for an additional support price of Rs 1,000 per tonne, as he needed to hold discussions with officials of the Finance Department.
Pujeri urged Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi to convene a meeting with sugar factory managements and announce the sugar prices. He said the farmers would continue their agitation until their demands were met.
He added that a large number of farmers had gathered at Gurlapur under the leadership of Sangha honorary president Shashikant Guruji. Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers
Association president Kurubur Shanthakumar, Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha and Hasiru Sene leader Chukki Nanjundaswamy and MLA Darshan Puttanaiah are scheduled to address the gathering.
Meeting on Wednesday
Speaking to reporters, Pujari and Shashikant Guruji said the government had been given until Wednesday evening to meet the farmers’ demands. The next course of agitation would be decided at the meeting at 9:00 pm and communicated to farmers, they said, adding that they remained hopeful that the government would fulfil their demands.
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Source : Deccan Herald
