BENGALURU: Karnataka BJP president BY Vijayendra on Friday welcomed the decisions taken at the meetings chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to end the protests by sugarcane growers.
The BJP leader said in the meeting, it was decided that the factory owners would give Rs 3,250 per tonne, and the State Government would give Rs 50 per tonne.
It is a victory for peaceful protests by farmers along with members of various farmers’ organisations, Vijayendra said.
“The CM should have called such a meeting two months back. The State Government called the meeting after the protest started in Belagavi and was spreading to other places, and we also extended support to it,” he said.
The BJP leader said the CM and many ministers criticised him for allegedly instigating farmers. He said they joined the protest five days after the protests had started, and the government had failed to respond to them. He clarified that they did not instigate farmers, and he had visited the protest site as farmers leader.
The State Government gets around Rs 30,000 crore annually from byproducts from the sugar factories, and the government decision to give Rs 50 per tonne sugarcane would come to around just Rs 300 crore, the BJP leader said. “It is just 1% of the revenue that the State Government is getting,” he said.
Only on paper now: Ashoka
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka said after a week-long and determined agitation by sugarcane farmers across Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura and Chikkodi, the State Government has finally bowed to pressure and fixed the price at Rs 3,300 per tonne. “The decision is welcome - but only on paper for now,” he said.