Pay farmers now, collect dues from factories later, govt told

 Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has called upon the farmers to stop farming activities for six months, and hit the streets against the ‘negligence’ of State and Union governments towards them.

Prior to starting the JD(S) padayatra from Tadakod village in Dharwad taluk to Belagavi, he told mediapersons on Thursday that the government policies would make the farmers orphans for generations to come, if they do not launch an agitation now.

He said that the chief minister had called a meeting of sugar factory owners in a hurry. Even if the government seizes the sugar stored in sugar factories, nobody is ready to purchase it, and the government is just spending time on this issue.

The government itself should pay around Rs 4,600 crore arrears to sugarcane growers, and can collect it from sugar factories later, he added.

The five-day padayatra to highlight problems of farmers will reaching Belagavi on June 29.