BELAGAVI: As sugarcane growers wait for settlement of unpaid dues, the stranglehold of political leaders on sugar factories is said to prevent the government from finding a lasting solution to address farmers’ concerns.
Despite a massive sugar production of 36.86 lakh metric tonnes by 65 sugar factories of Karnataka in 2017-18, about 15 lakh cane growers who supplied 3.47 crore metric tonnes of produce to factories are facing financial crisis. While the cane growers claim that the factories have pending bills worth over Rs 450 crore, state sugar commissioner Ajay Nagbhushan said the factories owed just Rs 38 crore in Belagavi.
President of State Sugarcane Growers’ Association, Kuruburu Shanthkumar, rubbished the claim, saying that Soubhagyalaxmi Sugar Factory run by Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi itself owned about Rs 19 crore to farmers. Despite several attempts, Ramesh was unavailable for a comment. He added that the factories owned by political leaders, including Satish Jarkiholi, D B Inamdar, late Siddu Nyamagouda, S R Patil, Shamnur Shivashankrappa, Sangamesh Nirani and Umesh Katti, owed huge amounts to farmers.
“Why would thousands of farmers who supplied cane to Jarkiholi’s factory agitate for so long if they were paid their bills?,” Shanthkumar asked. Another agitating grower said, “Jarkiholi must quit from his post on moral grounds if he is unable to settle the dues of poor farmers.”
In Vijayapura district, the first instalment of the bills, which factories should settle within 15 days, has not been cleared even after 10 months. In the last season, nine factories in Vijayapura crushed 22 lakh tonnes of cane.
Former minister Laxman Savadi, who heads the Krishna Cooperative Sugar Factory of Athani, said that the crisis will worsen further if the government showed negligence. “When the factories assured to pay Rs 2,900 per tonne to the growers in 2017-18, they must keep their words,” he said.
Athani MLA Shrimant Patil, who runs Kempwad Sugar Factory, however, said that his factory did not owe a single paisa to farmers. “Besides the fair and remunerative price (FRP) fixed by the government, we pay Rs 450 more per tonne. Most agitators in Athani taluk are not cane growers but goondas,” he said.
Some factories attribute the pending dues to the import of about 5 lakh metric tonnes of sugar from Pakistan last fiscal year, which forced the Centre to fix the sugar price at just Rs 29 per kg, sources said. Sugar factories had no choice but to pile up the unsold sugar, which has led to the current crisis.