BENGALURU: After a 6-hour-long marathon meeting with farmers on Tuesday, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy may have managed to bring them on board over the sugarcane crisis, at least for the time being. Apart from pressing on the sugar factories to pay up Rs 38 crore in arrears of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for this year, the government has also decided to consider the claims of farmers that ex-field agreements — informal agreements between farmers and sugar factories promising higher rates above the FRP — running into Rs 450 crore should also be paid.
The CM has asked sugar factory owners to meet him before November 22 to decide on the fate on ex-field prices. Kumaraswamy, who had come under severe criticism by protesting farmers, made an emotional appeal to representatives of the farming community that their anger against him was not justified since he had assumed office barely six months ago.
“Sugar factories have made a commitment to farmers through notices and oral agreements that they would pay higher prices. Upon such an assurance, farmers have supplied cane. Whether there was an official record or not, factories should keep their promise,” Kumaraswamy said while addressing the press after the meeting.
While hundreds of farmers were present at the meeting, only six representatives of sugar factory owners participated. The representatives expressed their inability to commit to the payment of Rs 450 crore in ex-field dues claimed by farmers, forcing the CM to insist on a direct meeting with factory owners. The government is also considering regularisation of weighing machines and supply records in factories to ensure that farmers aren’t cheated, the CM added. He warned factory owners against skipping the meeting and insisted that they come up with issues, if any, to be discussed.
While sugarcane supply to some factories has been restored in Belagavi, farmers’ unions have decided to take a unanimous call on Wednesday after a meeting in Belagavi. “There is an urgent need to re-evaluate FRP under State Advisory Price (SAP) but it was removed by the previous Siddaramaiah government. All we are asking for is price regulation by the state,” said Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, president, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha.
Cases to be dropped
Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that cases booked against farmers, farmer leaders in the last 7-8 years will be dropped. All cases filed against farmers during protests, including the one in Belagavi on Sunday, will be dropped after cabinet approval. “We have decided to withdraw all cases filed against farmers and farmer union leaders booked during protests in the last 7-8 years. The cabinet will approve the process,” Kumaraswamy said. The chief minister also assured farmers that loopholes in the Karnataka Sugarcane (Regulation of Purchase and Supply) Act, 2013, will be set right to protect the farming community.
Cracking
The Whip
■ Sugar factories will have to honour commitment on higher prices made to sugarcane farmers
■ Govt considering regularising weighing machines and supply records in sugar factories
■ CM insists on direct meeting with factory owners, warns them not to skip it
No immediate benefit of farm loan waiver
Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s crop loan waiver scheme is unlikely to bear any fruit before the
2019 Lok Sabha elections as the delivery of his promise will take another two to four years, say officials involved in the implementation.
BJP to hold protests for farmers today
The BJP is all set to turn up the heat on the H D Kumaraswamy government by tapping on farmers’ anger. It will organise state-wide protests on Wednesday against the government’s alleged failure to implement farm loan waiver.