BELAGAVI: Sugarcane farmers, on protest for the last several weeks, have claimed that 12 of the 24 sugar factories in Belagavi district are yet to pay huge pending amounts for the year 2017-18. Though the deputy commissioner had ordered the seizure of defaulting sugar factories if they do not clear the dues by June 30, the local administration seems to be in no hurry. With the deadlock between the management of sugar factories and cane growers continuing, Sugar Commissioner KG Shantaram held a meeting with farmers in Belagavi on Tuesday.
Shantaram had invited leaders of cane growers for a discussion following the rising protests and complaints against sugar factories. So far, the government has maintained that it is unaware of the exact dues which the sugar factories owe to growers even as the latter claimed to have furnished all the details to the government on several occasions.
During the meeting, several cane growers produced documents relating to the pending dues. Some of leaders informed the commissioner that Soubhagyalaxmi Sugar Factory, owned by Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, has not cleared dues of several growers for the years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. The commissioner received all the documents and said he will be holding another meeting in July in Bengaluru to take a final call on the prevailing crisis. He assured the farmers that the problem relating to the settlement of dues will be resolved next month.
Just a few days ago, Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Dr S B Bommanahalli had ordered seizure of all sugar factories in the district if they failed to settle dues by June 30. For the past few months, sugar factories have been unwilling to abide by any of the rules and regulations laid down by the government to ensure that farmers get the fair and remunerative price (FRP) fixed by the Union government for the financial year 2018-19. Meetings organised by deputy commissioners of many districts also failed to break the deadlock between factories and growers.
Under pressure from growers, Bommanahalli had issued notices to sugar factories on January 3 asking them to clear the dues. Many responded to the notices, but some factories ignored it. As a result, the worsening cane crisis triggered protests across the state.