Karnataka: Sugarcane to turn bitter for CM Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: The problems of sugarcane growers and other issues pertaining to north-Karnataka are likely to dominate the 10-day legislature session in Belagavi. Considering the complexity of the sugarcane issue and its politicisation, the session may not be able to find a quick solution. As it happened in previous sessions, this session too could see acrimonious exchanges and nothing else. For almost two years, the state government has been blaming the Centre without exercising its powers to resolve the problem. By doing so, it has cleverly shirked its responsibility of securing justice for farmers.

Now that Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has clarified the Centre’s stand, it is the responsibility of the state government to recover arrears from sugar mill owners and pay it to farmers. Realising how explosive the issue is, the opposition JD(S) and BJP have decided to bring up the farmers issue during the session and ensure the government has a hard time.

Indian Sugarcane Farmers Association (ISFA) president, Kurubur Shanthakumar observed that the problems of sugarcane growers had worsened because of the attitude adopted by all three players-the Union government, the state government and sugar mill owners. "The Union government cannot skirt the issue by blaming the state government or sugar mill owners nor vice versa. The Union government should have clamped a ban on the import of sugar from other countries. Imported sugar was released into the market where there was already sugar supplied by local mill owners and there was a major crash in prices. This resulted in heavy losses to mill owners who had said they would pay the dues after making profits which has not happened because of the crash.”

The state government is also to blame as it should have acted tough against sugar mill owners who delayed the payment to farmers. “Sugar mill owners are trying to gain as much benefit possible from both the Union government as well as the state government like a clever businessman would do,” he explained.

According to Shantakumar, as many as 30 of the 63 sugar mills in the state belong to influential politicians with these 30 equally shared by BJP and Congress leaders. “Mill owners have always benefited more than farmers. Any party that comes to power first files cases against agitating farmers who demand their hard earn money. The state government has always been hand-in-glove with sugar mill owners,” the farmer leader alleged.

Shettar speak

Questioning the rationale behind the state government’s decision to permit 30 new sugar factories at a time when existing ones have failed to release outstanding arrears to sugarcane growers, leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Jagadish Shettar, on Monday asked the government to pay farmers from its exchequer and recover the amount from defaulting factories later on.

He told the media here that the government should auction sugar stockpiled in factories and clear the dues of farmers. “We will commence a conduct padayatra from Badal Ankalagi village to Belagavi to draw the attention of the government to problems of sugarcane growers. The plight of sugarcane growers will dominate the forthcoming session of legislature if the state government fails to take steps to address their problems,” he added.

Charging that government was trying to hush up the Yallaling murder case, he alleged that close associates of Koppal district in-charge minister Shivaraj Thangadagi have killed an innocent person. He said his party would raise the issue and demand the minister’s during the legislature session.