Belgaum: Two former chief ministers-H.D. Kumaraswamy and B.S. Yeddyurappa-backed the agitation by farmers demanding a remunerative price for sugarcane in the Legislative Assembly and outside here on Tuesday.
At the venue of the protest, president of Karnataka State Farmers Association, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, who is leading the stir, warned the government not to take the farmers for a ride. "The government should pay an incentive to sugarcane growers if factories are unwilling to pay a sum of Rs 2800 to Rs 3000 per tonne of sugarcane," he said.
The cane growers blamed former minister Umesh Katti for the prevailing crisis, and urged the government to fix a fair State Advisory Price (SAP) for sugarcane.
In his address, Kumaraswamy criticized the government for not defusing the crisis by announcing a fair price for sugarcane. He demanded the government to fix a price for sugarcane after into account the expenditure incurred by farmers and amount invested and profits earned by sugar factories. B.S. Yeddyurappa too has decided to back the agitation.
In his reply, agriculture minister Krishna Byre Gowda assured that the commission would be set up in February. He and food and civil supplies minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the government has fixed fair minimum support price for paddy and maize.
