The Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers Association will renew its agitation by launching an indefinite ‘dharna’ in front of the Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru from February 9 demanding clearance of dues by sugar factories.
The dues amount to Rs. 1,800 crore for the sugarcane crushed last year by the sugar factories and payment of the prices of the sugarcane crushed this year as per the Fair Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs. 2,200 per tonne fixed by the Union Government.
The state committee of the association which met in Kalaburagi, under the chairmanship of Association President Kuruburu Shantakumar, on Tuesday has also decided to launch a one day ‘dharna’ in all the district headquarters in the state on February 2, the day on which the joint assembly session would begin, as a precursor to the indefinite ‘dharna’.
Briefing the presspersons in Kalaburagi on Tuesday about the decisions taken in the state committee meeting, Mr. Shantakumar charged the State government of taking the side of sugar factory owners.
He pointed out that the State government had failed to keep the promises made during the Belagavi session, that before the end of December 30, a sum of Rs. 200 would be paid as dues to the sugarcane growers and the remaining dues before the end of January 2015. “So far except for the payment of Rs. 100 as dues by eight sugar factories in Bagalkot, none of the sugar factories in the state had cleared the dues of the sugarcane crushed last year.”
Mr. Shantakumar said that issuing mere notices would not help and the government should be more stringent and penalise the factories. Sugar factories are expected to pay the due-amount within 14 days and failure would invite 15 per cent interest on the amount due to the farmers. Factories were also mandated to harvest the sugarcane within 12 months, but even after 14 months the sugar factories have not yet harvested the crop in many districts.
He also mentioned that out of 63 sugar factories, which started crushing this year, only 16 have made payments to the growers according to the FRP rates. While the FRP of Rs. 2,200 per tonne should be paid to the cane with 9.5 per cent recovery and for every additional percentage of recovery Rs. 235 should be added by sugar factories.