Sugarcane Farmers' Protest Enters Seventh Day & Spread To Other Districts, Siddaramaiah Points Finger At Centre

Bengaluru: The sugarcane farmers' agitation in Belagavi district has entered the seventh day and has now started spreading to neighbouring districts like Chikkodi, Gadag, Vijaypura and Kalburgi.

Refusing to be part of any government meeting, the farmers demanded that any meeting with the government would be only after announcing a minimum of Rs 3500 per ton price for sugarcane.

However, in Bengaluru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah pointed his fingers at the Centre and said that the FRP (Fair Remunerative Price) for all the crops was fixed by the Union Government.

This year also, the Union Government has fixed FRP for sugarcane at 3550 per ton, including harvesting and transport for the output of 10.2 per ton. The State sugar factory owners have agreed to pay Rs 3200 per ton, excluding harvest and transport. If it was included, the price would be over Rs 4000 per ton, Siddaramaiah said, addressing a press conference after the cabinet meeting.

Siddaramaiah, surrounded by the ministers like M B Patil, Sathish Jarkiholi, Laskhmi Hebbalkar and others said that he would be holding a meeting of all sugar factory owners tomorrow morning and later with the farmers also to sort out the problem. He blamed that the Union Government had not revised the sugar price since 2017 and poor allotment of ethanol share fior Karnataka, despite the state producing over 200 lakh liters of ethanol.

Meanwhile, the farmers were adamant that They would not participate in any of the government meetings, unless the FRP was fixed at a minimum of Rs 3500 per ton.Most of the pro-Kannada activist groups have also extended their support to the agitating farmers, who are sitting in the streets day and night during the last one week.

Starting from Friday, the farmers have decided to block the entire Bengaluru-Pune Highway in front of Suvarna Soudha, the second administrative center of the state. Besides, the places like Chikkodi, Gadag, Gokak and Hukkeri continue to remain tense with farmers blocking all roads to these towns. From Friday, the farmers from Kalburgi district have decided to join the agitation at Kalburgi town.