The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangh and the Hasiru Sene, organisations agitating for remunerative price for sugarcane, on Thursday rejected the Karnataka government’s decision to offer Rs. 150 per tonne in addition to the Rs. 2500 per tonne price that has already been fixed, even as protests were organised in many districts over the issue.
“We do not welcome the meagre incentive of Rs.150/- per tonne,” KRRS president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar said at the protest site in front of the Suvarna Soudha here. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the incentive on the floor of the Assembly here on Wednesday evening, about threes hours after a sugarcane farmer, identified as Vittal Bhimappa Arabhavi, committed suicide.
Protests were held in Belgaum, Dharwad, Raichur, Gulbarga and Davangere, among other districts. Political parties too joined the farmers’ agitation, demanding Mr. Siddaramaiah’s resignation as they held the government responsible for Mr. Arabhavi’s suicide.
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TheKRRS and the Hasiru Sene, which are leading the agitation, have decided to intensify the protests, demanding that the government announce the price under State Advisory Price (SAP) Act at 9.5 per cent recovery.