Sugarcane growers to besiege Soudha

Sugarcane growers will lay a siege to the Vidhana Soudha and launch a ‘jail bharo’ campaign on September 28 demanding that the government fix a price of Rs 3,000 per tonne of sugarcane.

Raitha Sangha leader K S Puttannaiah told reporters here on Wednesday that farmers from Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan and Ramanagar districts will take part in the agitation. A huge procession will be taken out from the Bangalore City railway station, before laying siege to the Vidhana Soudha.

“The government has overlooked the recommendations of the committee it had formed to fix the price for sugarcane. It has fixed the price at Rs 2,200 a tonne to the advantage of sugar factories. We have rejected the price and won’t take part in the meeting scheduled for September 27,” Puttannaiah said.

The price of sugarcane should be linked to that of sugar. Sugarcane was purchased at Rs 2,000 a quintal, while sugar traded at Rs 2,700 a quintal during 2011-12.

“Sugar now costs Rs 3,300-Rs 3,650 per quintal and the price of sugarcane should be fixed accordingly. A tonne of sugarcane would cost Rs 3,700 if the prices of molasses and sugar are taken into consideration,” he added.

Sugar fund

Puttannaiah said units manufacturing sub-products should be started in all the 59 sugar factories (in public, co-operative and private sectors) of the State.

They should set up a sugar fund to make payments to sugarcane growers on time, he said. He said that the government should bring in a bill to fix the state advisory price (SAP) for sugarcane, to help the growers.