Sugarcane farmers of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts staged a demonstration in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Siddharthanagar in the city on Tuesday demanding payment of last season’s sugarcane dues.
Contending that they had not been paid the additional ₹150 per tonne announced by the State government following their 39-day-long dharna in Bengaluru, the farmers, under the aegis of Karnataka Sugarcane Farmers Association, marched towards the Deputy Commissioner’s office armed with a memorandum of demands, only to be stopped by the police near the entrance.
After a verbal exchange between the farmers and the police, the farmers shouted slogans against the police and thr government. Later, they were allowed to assemble in the portico of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, where Additional Deputy Commissioner Kavitha Rajaram received their memorandum and assured to bring to their demands to the notice of Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra and hold a meeting to resolve them.
The farmers demanded that the sugar factories clear their last season’s dues of ₹150 per tonne to farmers before starting crushing operations this season.
The farmers, who were dissatisfied with the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of ₹3,150 for sugarcane with a recovery rate of 10.25% fixed by the Centre, demanded that they should be paid ₹4,000 per tonne for sugarcane with a recovery rate of 9.5% in view of the increased cost of cultivation.
The farmers urged the Deputy Commissioner to convene a meeting of representatives of farmers and sugarcane factories so that price for harvesting and transport of sugarcane if finalised. Also, in view of the rise in cost of cultivation in comparison to last year, the sugarcane farmers urged the State government to convene a meeting to fix the State Advisory Price.
The farmers also put forth a demand that the weighing scale used to measure the weight of the sugarcane should be placed outside the sugar factories and not inside so that there is transparency in weighing of the sugarcane.
Karnataka Sugarcane Farmers’ Association organising secretary Attihalli Devaraj led the protest along with office-bearers of the association’s Mysuru and Chamarajanagar district units.
