BELAGAVI: Accusing Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy of “failing to keep his words on waiver of farm loans,” sugarcane growers launched an indefinite agitation on the premises of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here on Saturday ahead of the winter session which is set to begin at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Monday.
Drawing the government’s attention towards their “miserable lives” owing to failure of sugar factories to settle their dues, the agitators blamed the state government for the worsening sugarcane crisis.
Alleging that the CM did not take the sugarcane crisis seriously even as a large number of growers were waiting with fingers crossed for the factories to release arrears, the agitators said they will not withdraw their agitation this time until a concrete measure is taken by the government. The growers raised slogans against the government and sugar factories and resolved to continue the protest until their demands were met.
“We have submitted several memoranda along with all the relevant documents on the pending dues which factories owed to growers to the DC. When nothing was done, we started day-night protest on the premises of the DC’s Office from November 15. The CM had responded to us. But none of the sugar factories followed the CM’s order,’’ said growers’ leader Sidagouda Modagi.