BELAGAVI: Sugarcane farmers intensified their agitation along the Karnataka-Maharashtra border on Tuesday, blocking the busy Pune-Bengaluru National Highway and several other key roads to press for a remunerative support price for sugarcane and the fulfilment of their long-pending demands.
The protests followed the failure of a meeting between representatives of farmers organisations and Union ministers in New Delhi on Monday. Disappointed with the outcome of the talks, farmers’ organisations had called for an intensified statewide agitation on Tuesday, warning that they would not withdraw the protest until their demands were met.
In Belagavi district, hundreds of farmers gathered at the Hattargi toll plaza in Hukkeri taluk and blocked the highway. Raising slogans against the Centre, the farmers maintained that they would continue the agitation until the government addressed their concerns, particularly the demand for a remunerative price for sugarcane.
The agitation spread beyond Hattargi, with farmers blocking roads at Hirebagewadi and Kugnoli toll plazas and staging protests in several other parts of the state, including Bagalkot, Vijayapura and Hubballi-Dharwad. The police have made alternative arrangements for vehicles arriving from Maharashtra through Belagavi.
2 women attempt suicide
In Koppal, two women farmers allegedly attempted suicide during a highway blockade staged near the Hitnal toll gate in Koppal taluk on Tuesday, demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report.
Karnataka pushes for scientific, transparent system
Karnataka is working towards a more scientific and transparent system to ensure fair returns to sugarcane farmers, with a focus on cane weight, recovery, harvesting period and payment practices, Sugar and Textiles Minister Rudrappa Lamani has said.
As a follow-up to the high-level meeting held in New Delhi on Monday, the State Government will conduct a scientific study on the optimal harvesting period and sugar recovery levels across Karnataka’s sugarcane-growing regions and place its findings before the joint committee proposed by the Centre, Lamani said.
He said the State Government has taken seriously complaints from farmers about discrepancies in cane weighing at sugar factories.