Bengaluru, Bagalkote & Belagavi: North Karnataka’s sugarcane farm ers, who launched a massive agita tion over the past two weeks seeking a fair price for their crops, say that the State Government has virtually abandoned them.
Even after the agitation took a vi olent turn on Thursday (November 12), when a section of protesters set fire to more than 70 tractors loaded with sugarcane at the parking yard of the Godavari Bio-Refinery Ltd. factory at Sameerwadi and Ma halingapur in Mudhol, District In charge Minister and Excise Minister R.B. Thimmapur, along with Sugar Minister Shivanand Patil who visited the spot to take stock of the situation failed to convince the farmers with a permanent and sat isfactory solution. This is not the first time the fort night-long agitation has turned violent. Earlier this week, farmers protesting at the Hattargi toll plaza in Belagavi district indulged in stone pelting, attacked police personnel, and vandalised vehicles caught in a massive traffic jam on the Pune– Bengaluru National Highway 48. At least nine police personnel, includ ing a Police Sub-Inspector, were in jured in the incident.
On Friday, when Ministers R.B. Thimmapur and Shivanand Patil visited Sameerwadi and Mahalin gapur where large-scale violence had erupted they managed only to organise a truce meeting between sugar mill owners and sugarcane farmers, leading to a temporary suspension of the agitation until the mill owners’ assurances are ful filled. Muthappa Komar, a farmer leader in Mudhol, said representatives of Godavari Bio-Refinery Ltd., MRN Sugars, Prabhulingeshwar Sugar Factory, and ICPL assured the farmers that they would clear all past arrears amounting to Rs.20 crore within four days. Although the farmers agreed to a price of Rs.3,300 per tonne for their sugar cane, neither the sugar mill owners nor the Government gave a concrete acceptance, sources in the Karnata ka State Farmers’ Association told TSG. After the truce meeting, farm ers decided to call off the stir for four days until the promises made by the sugar factories are fulfilled.
The violence had erupted on Thursday at the Godavari Bio-Refinery Ltd. factory in Sameerwadi in Mudhol taluk in Bagalkote district and Mahalingapur in Mudhol, and more than 70 tractor-trailers loaded with sugar cane were set on fire. According to district police, the violence broke out following rumours that a sugar factory had begun operations de spite the ongoing protests across all sugarcane-growing districts of North Karnataka. Fire officials stated that sugarcane weighing 1,033 metric tonnes, load ed in around 96 tractor-trailers, was destroyed in the fire. The loss of the sugarcane alone is estimated at Rs.34 lakh. Additionally, 42 ve hicles worth nearly Rs26 lakh were gutted.
