Bengaluru: Members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) will lay siege to Chief Minister’s residence in Bengaluru on Monday July 4 demanding the release of pending funds and the fixing of the sugarcane price at Rs. 4,500 a tonne.
Sangha claimed in a release that the sugarcane farmers are suffering from unscientific pricing, cheating while weighing, and delay in the release of the due amount. They claimed that the Central Government has taken a stance that will only benefit sugar factories and noted that, despite the Centre’s promise to double farmers’ incomes, production costs have doubled as a result of the rise in fertiliser prices.
They claimed that the government now demands Rs. 4,500 per tonne since it has not implemented the M. S. Swaminathan commission’s recommendations. Even though several sugarcane factories in North Karnataka are run by BJP, Congress, and JD (S) officials, some of whom are ministers, the Centre has not set the minimum support price for sugarcane for the past four years.
