The farmers’ organisations leading an indefinite agitation parallel to the monsoon session of the State legislature since Monday, set 7 p.m. today as the deadline for the government to take a positive decision on their long-pending demand on settling sugarcane dues to the growers.
Else, they would be left with little option but to launch an intensified agitation in various ways, including hunger strike and give a call for “Karnataka bandh”.
Speaking at a press meet here on Tuesday afternoon, Karnataka Kabbu Belegarara Sangha president Kurubar Shanthakumar and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, who were among the 393 farmers arrested under Section 391 of the Karnataka Police Act for staging a rasta-roko on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway No.4 near Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Monday evening and housed in the Samudaya Bhavan of the police department near the A.P.M.C. Police Station since then, said the ball was in the court of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. It was for his government to think with wisdom and take a judicious decision to provide succour to the “gullible farmers” being “exploited by the politically influential sugar lobby” in the State.
They said the government was still discussing the issue and wasting the time and money of the legislature instead of taking a decision to implement its own commitment to pay Rs.2,500 along with an incentive of Rs.150 per tonne of sugarcane for the year 2013-14. The government had not yet announced the price for the crop for the year 2014-15, but nearly Rs.3,600 crore was due to the growers from the sugar mills considering the FRP of Rs.2,200 per tonne at 9.50% recovery.
“We will wait till 7 p.m. today and take a decision on intensifying the agitation, beginning with an indefinite hunger strike from tomorrow and subsequently a Karnataka bandh if the government remains insensitive to our demand and failed to announce its position on the issue of sugarcane dues,” said the farmers’ leaders.
Mr. Kumar appealed to the intellectuals and litterateurs, and the actors, producers and directors of the Kannada film industry to support the farmers in their struggle for justice. He said when the members of the film industry expected people of the State, including farmers, to come to their rescue when in trouble, should they not reciprocate the same when farmers were fighting for justice?
