Bengaluru: The protest of sugarcane farmers, which continued even after the government fixed minimum price of ₹ 3300 per ton of sugarcane after a meeting with sugar factory owners and farmers turned violent, with the protesting farmers setting over 30 tractors carrying sugarcane in Mudhol, Bagalkot district on Thursday night.
While police have clamped prohibitory orders in three taluks of Bagalkot district, the government and farmer organisations have blamed miscreants sneaking into the protest and vandalising the sugarcane crop being taken to sugar factory.
The protesters also tried to enter the Sameerawadi Somaiah sugar factory at Mahalingapura in Mudhol taluk, where the sugarcane crushing work had just begun on Thursday and farmers were transporting their sugarcane crop. They clashed with the security personnel and the police who were present there. In the stone pelting incident, two factory employees and many police personnel, including Bagalkot SP were injured.
In Bengaluru, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that some miscreants had joined the protesting farmers at Mudhol and had set fire to the sugarcane crop and tractors. The police were in the process of identifying the miscreants and they would be punished soon.
Following protest by the sugarcane farmers in Belagavi, Kalburgi, Chikkodi and Bagalkot districts, the government convened a meeting of sugar factory owners and sugarcane farmers. The farmers contended that the government should fix a minimum price of ₹ 3500 per ton of sugarcane. After a prolonged negotiation, the government fixed the minimum price to ₹ 3300 per ton.
Though the farmers from other districts withdrew their protests, the farmers of Mudhol taluk continued their protest, demanding ₹3500 per ton of sugarcane. On Thursday, the farmer groups from Garlapur, who had withdrawn their strike, came to Mudhol by bus to extend their support to the Mudhol farmers.
Then, the news arrived that the Sameerawadi Somaiah sugar factory had started grinding sugarcane and the farmers were transporting the sugarcane to the factory. The protesters rushed to Sameerawadi and stopped the tractors carrying sugarcane. They got into an argument with the farmers transporting sugarcane. They toppled the tractors carrying sugarcane and set them on fire by pouring petrol on it.
The police have rounded up a few protesters and are on the look out for others who were involved in vandalism.
