Raitha Morcha activists stage dharna outside Davangere Sugar Factory

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party Raitha Morcha took out a procession and staged a dharna outside Davangere Sugar Factory owned by district in-charge Minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa here on Monday seeking clearance of pending bills of sugarcane growers.

Farmer leader B.M. Satish said farmers had started committing suicides unable to tolerate the torture of recovery officers from banks and financial institutions. He alleged that the government was not ready to initiate action against sugar factory owners as a majority of them are the Cabinet colleagues of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

Problems

Though the government was seizing the sugar stocks in factories, it would not solve the problems of growers. Instead, action should be initiated against factory owners and make them clear the bills in a stipulated time, Mr. Satish said.