BIJAPUR: Minister for Textiles Appasaheb Pattanashetti on Monday said the Deputy

Commissioner of Bijapur had been asked to convene a meeting of representatives of sugar units here on April 27 to speed up the process of harvesting surplus cane in the district.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Pattanashetti, who is in charge of the district, said the Government was aware of the seriousness of the issue and was making all efforts to see that all cane was crushed before May 31.

He said apart from sugar units in the region, some factories in Maharashtra had also been approached. He said he visited Jatt and Mahankali sugar units in that State and both had agreed to harvest at least 100-truckloads of cane a day. They had planned to stop crushing by May 10 but promised to continue crushing up to May-end on the request of the State Government.

He said the sugar units in the State had also started responding well and there was quantitative improvement in harvesting in the last couple of days.

Two days ago, one more direction was issued to sugar factories asking them to comply with the earlier order. He released copies of the order to the media that were issued by the Commissioner for Cane Development B.H. Manjunath, who is also the Sugar Director.

Direction to factories

The factories that have been directed are: Nandi Sahakari Sakkare Karkhane (Bijapur district), Shri Prabhulingeshwara Sugars Ltd., Nirani Sugars Ltd., Gem Sugars Ltd., Bilagi Sugars Ltd., Badami Sugars Ltd. (all five in Bagalkot district), Krishna Sahakar Sakkare Karkhane, Ugar Sugars Ltd., Athani Farmers' Sugars Ltd. (all three in Belgaum district) and Renuka Sugars Private Ltd. (Gulburga district). Quoting a report sent by Deputy Commissioner of Bijapur, the order said: "You (the factories) are not crushing sufficient sugarcane from the area allocated to you in Bijapur district.

The Government has issued an order in the interest of farmers and any violation of it will be viewed seriously."

It also asked the factories to file a report on how much cane they had crushed and a detailed schedule on the harvest of the remaining cane from the area allotted to them.

Referring to the meeting held by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in Bangalore on April 12, the letter said that the Bijapur Deputy Commissioner V.B. Patil has been asked to control, evaluate and monitor the situation. The factories were expected to file a compliance report to him every Monday.

Meanwhile, the agitation continued by sugarcane farmers at the Deputy Commissioner's office for the sixth day on Monday. They had launched a fast-unto-death but toned it down to a relay hunger strike on Friday after Mr. Pattanashetti visited them. On Monday, farmers in Indi taluk, mostly women from Hingani village, observed a fast.

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