Sugarcane growers step up agitation in north Karnataka, block highways and observe bandh
Farmers in Belagavi, Dharwad, Bagalkot and Vijayapura districts want a fair price of Rs 5,500 a tonne, recovery base restored to 9.5% and a minimum sugar selling price of Rs 50.
Sugarcane farmers in north Karnataka intensified their agitation on Saturday, blocking state and national highways and observing a dawn-to-dusk bandh across several towns and villages in Belagavi, Dharwad, Bagalkot and Vijayapura districts.
The protest, led by the Rajya Raitha Sangha, Hasiru Sene and other farmer groups, seeks a fair and remunerative price of Rs 5,500 per tonne, restoring the FRP base recovery to 9.5%, raising the minimum selling price of sugar to Rs 50 and a review of the Centre's ethanol policy.
Shops stayed shut in the Chikkodi division of Belagavi district, and Gurlapur Cross in Mudalgi taluk remained the centre of the protest. In Vijayapura district, farmers gheraoed Industries Minister M B Patil at Sangapur S H village; the minister asked them to be patient and said the government would respond to their demands. Police used lathis to disperse a section of protesters after a heated exchange.
Farmers also blocked the Vijayapura–Pandharpur highway for over an hour in Babaleshwar. In Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district, protesters damaged a pandal and chairs at a function hall where an event was under way.
Source: Deccan Herald. Photo: Timothy A. Gonsalves / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
