Angered over the alleged failure of the State government to make the sugar factories pay their dues, the cane growers have now decided to stage a fast in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi from Monday when the monsoon session would commence demanding that the government itself should pay their dues.
A decision to this effect was taken by the farmers who attended the Sugarcane Price Control Board meeting held in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Speaking to presspersons after the meeting, Karnataka State Sugarcane Farmers’ Association president Kurubur Shanthkumar said that the cane growers now want the government itself to pay their dues on behalf of the defaulting sugar factories. The government could recover the amount later by auctioning the sugar stocks or confiscating the property of the defaulting sugar mills, he added.
He said the farmers had taken such a decision as the sugar factories had publicly declared that they would not pay the dues.
Meanwhile, Sugar Minister H.S. Mahadeva Prasad maintained that the government was in the process of initiating action against 55 defaulting sugar mills.
Pointing out that 12 sugar mills had approached the court in connection with the dues, the Minister said action would be taken against them based on the court’s verdict.
Referring to the suicide of a sugarcane farmer in Pandavapura taluk on Thursday, the Minister said the farmer was not a member of any sugar mill and that he was supplying sugarcane to jaggery units.
The farmer had committed suicide as he was unable to pay loans, he said, adding that he would consult Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on giving compensation to the dead farmer’s family members.
The government is in the process of initiating action against 55 defaulting sugar mills, says Mahadeva Prasad
