BENGALURU: Karnataka Pranta Raita Sangha (KPRS) president and CPM leader Maruti Manpade blamed the flaws in the Central Government’s policy on sugar import for the crisis in the industry.
The sugar policy adopted by the Centre is biased and favours mills, he told Express, and charged that the Indian sugar industry is in the ‘clutches of market manipulators.’
Maintaining that the overall annual sugar production in the world has not altered much in the last four years, he said, “The procurement price for sugarcane by mills has sharply dipped.” The total global sugar output stood at over 177.6 million metric tonne in 2012-13, followed by 175 million metric tonne in 2013-14 and about 173 million metric tonne in 2014-15, he said.
He slammed the Centre for raising the import duty on refined sugar to 40 per cent. “By doing so, the government has given a blanket permission to import raw sugar at zero per cent duty,” he said.
He also flayed the state government for not taking ‘concrete measures’ to clear the dues of sugar farmers. This has led to the increase in farmer suicides in recent days. “Had the state government made any sincere effort in tackling the issue, the lives of farmers could have been saved,” Manpade said.
He said KPRS has convened a state-level sugarcane growers’ convention at Kalaburagi on July 21. “Presidents of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu pranta raita sanghas have been invited to address the convention,” he added.
Meanwhile, he demanded Lokayukta Justice Bhaskar Rao, whose son had been charged in a corruption case, to step down from office.
Manpade said, “Rao’s refusal to step down will further damage the image of the office he holds. Our party will take a formal decision on seeking his resignation soon.”