The government has set a deadline of November 5 for all sugar factories in the district to release arrears of sugarcane to farmers. Minister for Sugar, Kannada and Culture C.T. Ravi announced this at a meeting of officials in Belagavi on Saturday.
According to him, the 23 factories in Belagavi district have a total arrears of ₹ 84 crore to be paid to farmers. Officials told him that 99 % of arrears have been paid to farmers.
He asked Deputy Commissioner S.B. Bommanahalli to ensure that 100 % of payments were made.
He asked officials to take action against factories that had not renewed their licence for this year.
He asked officials to help the S. Nijalingappa Sugar Research Institute’s reach its work to factories and farmers. He said that the State government would consider the demand by some farmers to include sugarcane under the crop insurance scheme and set up a price stabilisation fund for the crop.
MLA Umesh Katti asked the Minister to ban transport of sugarcane to neighbouring States, including Maharashtra. Mr. Ravi said that this would be decided in a meeting in Bengaluru on November 10.
The Deputy Commissioner spoke of the losses suffered by farmers during floods.
The Minister asked the Deputy Commissioner to upload details of the cultural heritage of each one of the 1,234 villages in Belagavi district in two months and include details of folk artistes, festivals and tourist places.
