The Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers Association has urged the State government to amend the Karnataka Sugarcane (Regulation of Purchase and Supply) Act 2013 to include provisions for imposing penalty and putting behind bars sugar mill owners who do not pay sugarcane dues to farmers.
Association president Kurubur Shanthakumar said at a press conference here on Monday that most of the sugar mills in the State were owned by MLAs, MPs or Ministers and such a penal provision had become necessary to protect the interests of sugarcane farmers, who are forced to bear the hardship over non-payment of dues every year.
He accused the mill owners of submitting false reports that they had cleared all the outstanding dues. The reports are endorsed by the district administration and the Sugar Commissioner without examining them, he alleged.
He urged the government to immediately book criminal cases against the mill owners who have submitted false information. “Such a move will ensure that they do not provide false information in future”, he argued.
Sugar mills in Belagavi, Bagalkote, Haliyal, Kalaghataki, Vijayapura, Kalburgi, Bidar and Mandya districts together owed ₹480 crore to the farmers, alleged Mr. Shanthakumar while urging the State government to close down the defaulting mills.
He flayed the government for increasing the base recovery rate from 9.5 to 10 per cent for payment of Fair and Remunerative Price (FAP) for the year 2018-19. He urged it to adopt the Tamil Nadu model making the sugar mills bear the expenditure of harvesting and transportation.
He urged the government to make arrangements for purchase of paddy, which has been grown on 16 lakh hectares of land in the State, by announcing a support price of ₹2,000 per quintal. He also demanded the immediate withdrawal of cases booked against farmers.
