Mysuru
A protest march will be held in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office at Mysuru on July 4, demanding price fixing for sugarcane and sugarcane harvest transportation rate exploitation, said Kuruburu Shanthakumar, President of Sugarcane Growers Association at a press conference on July 2.
Similar protests will also be held in District, Taluk centres throughout the state on July 5.
Due to the increase in fertilizer, seed, diesel, price, harvesting and transportation costs used for sugarcane crop, sugarcane price should be fixed for the current year 2022-23. In Uttar Pradesh, the state advisory price has been fixed at 3500 per tonne and the price should be fixed in the state following the same criteria, Shanthakumar has demanded the state government.
About 70 sugar mills in the state last year crushed 6 crore 50 lakhs of sugarcane. Regarding this, the farmers of the state are still owed PRP money of 300 crores. The farmers must be paid 15 percent interest for the outstanding payment and it shall be paid immediately, he said.
Sugarcane yield and area have increased in the current year. Sugarcane harvesting has already started in South Karnataka. Due to the delay in sugarcane price fixing, the factories are also delaying payment to the farmers. Therefore, they should take urgent action. According to the SAP Act, the state government has the right to fix the price of sugarcane, Shanthakumar said.
In this regard, I participated in the State Government Sugarcane Purchase and Supply Board meeting held on June 9th and as the State President explained the problems of the sugarcane growers of the state, so the Sugar Minister should immediately discuss with the Chief Minister and take action, he said.
Every year sugar mills are deducting transportation cost of sugarcane from the farmers without any criteria. In the last days of sugarcane harvesting season, the cutting labour of more than one thousand rupees is deducted from the farmers, which is exploitation of farmers.
The sugar mills are bringing in the labourers on their own advance and they are harvesting through them. Similarly, the lorries and tractors are being contracted from the factory for transportation. Since the entire supervision and control system is in the hands of the factory owners, if the PRP price of sugarcane is fixed as the price in the farmer’s field, the problem will be avoided for the farmers. Therefore, the state government should take immediate action, he demanded.
The benefits of sugarcane by-products have not been given to the farmers for two years and the farmers are being cheated because the yield by weight is showing less.
When there is an accidental fire accident, the factories cut down the prices and the price is reduced by 25 per cent. This is an unscientific policy and action should be taken to avoid this.
The central government which has come to power in the name of Sri Ram is thinking about imposing GST on gambling, race course, horse betting, casinos in the near future, but imposition of GST on milk products like buttermilk, curds, milking machines is a burden on poor farmers.
The militants who brutally killed Tailor Kannaiah Lal in Rajasthan’s Udaipur should be publicly hanged, a process is a challenge to the central government.
Hattalli Devaraj, Kiragasuru Shankar, Baradanapura Nagaraj, Kendagannaswamy, Lakshmipura Venkatesh, Devamani were present.
