KRRS demands release of water, fair relief for crop loss

Threatens to besiege CM on Oct 27 if demands are not fulfilled

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) leaders demanded the government to release water into canals to save crops, announce waiver of farm loans and take necessary measures to mitigate drought.

They also threatened to stage protest during the Chief Minister’s visit to the city on October 27, if their demands are not met with.

Addressing the reporters at Jaladarshini Guest house here, KRRS general secretary Badagalpura Nagendra lamented that both the Centre and the state government are reluctant to address farmers problems. The government has decided to release water into canals from Kabini reservoir for six days but it will not help the farmers as the water will not reach the tail-end villages.

He demanded the government to release 1,800 cusecs of water per day for 10 days continuously in three phases. Around 30% of crops have already withered due to shortage of water, he said.

Compensation

On the issue of compensation, the KRRS leader alleged that the governments - Centre and the state - are following unscientific methods in fixing the compensation for crop loss. While the farmers have incurred a loss of Rs 46,000 loss per acre of paddy, the government has fixed a compensation of Rs 5,650 per hectare. Karnataka Agriculture Commission has prepared a report on expenses incurred for cultivation and the government must fix the compensation based on the Commission’s report, he demanded.

Despite the fact that the price of sugar has doubled in a year or two, sugar cane farmers are not getting their due. Sugar is sold at Rs 40 per kg, while it was Rs 23 two years back year. But, the growers are getting only Rs 2,365 per tonne of sugar cane. He blamed the sugar factory owners for not giving the cane growers their due and demanded the state government to announce an MSP of Rs 3,000 per tonne of sugar cane.

With the sugarcane growers suffering huge losses, area of sugarcane cultivation has been decreased and the farmers are migrating to other places seeking employment.Nagendra demanded waiver of farm loans both by the state and the Centre.

Nagendra said that a large number of farmers from Mandya, Mysuru rural and Chamarajanagar districts are migrating to Bengaluru and Mysuru city in search of jobs.

He said that as many as one lakh people from Mandya district alone has migrated to Bengaluru. Nearly 3,000 farmers come to Mysuru city from Chamarajanagar everyday and work as daily wagers.
 
Farmer leaders K M Puttaswamy, Lokesh Raje Urs, Sargur Natraj, Hosur Kumar, Bannur Krishnappa, Belagola Subramanya, Prabhakar women’s wing president Netravathi were present.