Karnataka   

‘Do not allow crushing till cane factories pay arrears’

DAVANGERE: Sugarcane growers in the State have urged the Government not to permit factories to commence crushing operations until they pay the additional Rs. 160 a tonne for the sugarcane supplied last year.

They have also decided not to supply sugarcane to factories unless they abide by the stipulation on payment of arrears and till sugarcane price for the current year is fixed.

Kuruburu Shanthakumar, president of the Sugarcane Growers’ Federation, told presspersons here on Tuesday that during President’s Rule, an order was issued instructing factories to pay an additional Rs. 160 a tonne of sugarcane.

Sugarcane farmers had suffered losses in the past few years, while the factories had garnered huge profits. Owing to this, sugarcane cultivation in the State had come down by 35 per cent, he said.

No sugar factory had distributed profits made from by-products to the farmers, he alleged.

No sugar factory had developed infrastructure using Central funds, but had shown it in the accounts. Sugarcane had been exempted from purchase tax and factories given subsidy for transportation of sugarcane, he said.

Mr. Shanthakumar urged the Government to set up a team of auditors who would assess the profits made by each factory.

The Government should then instruct the factories to distribute the profits to farmers, he said.

Even the two government-owned sugar factories — Mysugar in Mandya and MPM in Bhadravathi — had not paid the additional Rs. 160 a tonne of sugarcane to the farmers, he said.

Mr. Shanthakumar said that the price of sugarcane should be fixed at Rs. 1,550 a tonne.

He urged the Government to implement the proposal for a “common general agreement” that would ensure that the factories would bear the losses suffered by the growers if it failed to crush sugarcane.

The Government should offer a support price of Rs. 1,000 a tonne of paddy to the farmers, he added.

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