Sugarcane growers to meet PM Modi over pending dues

Team Udayavani, Jun 13, 2019, 1:06 PM IST

Image for Representation

Belagavi: Sugarcane growers of North Karnataka have decided to meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in order to bring the worsening sugarcane crisis in the state to his notice.

Speaking on the issue a cane grower said that they have decided meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seek his intervention to help them out of the crisis regarding their pending dues.

Sugar factories in the state are supposed to pay Rs 2,400 crore from the past three years to growers as per the fair and remunerative price (FRP) fixed by the Union government, including Rs 1,182 crore by 24 sugar factories of Belagavi, he added.

Meanwhile, farmer leader Shashikant Joshi from Kagwad said, “We have lodged at least 500 separate complaints with the state Sugar Commissioner and Sugar Director in the past three years against sugar factories. Detailed information about which factory owed how much to the cane growers (as per FRP) has been mentioned in the complaints. Yet, the government authorities are unwilling to initiate stringent action to ensure the release of dues from the factories.”