Belagavi, 31 October

Intensifying their agitation over their demand for a hike in the procurement price of sugarcane, farmers in North Karnataka staged a blockade of highways at several points on Saturday.

The farmers staged a sit-in demonstration in front of buses at Belagavi bus stand on Saturday, while in Dharwad farmers tried to block the road.

Agitation took place in Vijayapura and Bagalkote, sources said.

In view of the intensifying agitation, Belagavi and Dharwad administration issued prohibitory orders banning blockade of highways.

The sugarcane farmers have been demanding fixation of remunerative prices for their produce and fulfilment of other demands. Their key demand is fixation of Rs 5,500 per tonne for procuring sugarcane, restoring the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) base recovery to 9.5 per cent and reviewing the Centre's ethanol policy.

In Belagavi, sugarcane farmers called for a voluntary statewide Karnataka bandh in support of the ongoing protest.

Shashikant Guruji, honorary president of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene, appealed to farmers to voluntarily observe a bandh in every village, town and city across the state on Saturday in solidarity with the sugarcane growers' agitation.

Addressing farmers at the protest venue at Gurlapur Cross on Friday evening, Guruji urged them to continue their agitation peacefully in view of the prohibitory orders issued by the Belagavi district administration.

Appealing to farmers across Karnataka to extend voluntary support to the bandh, Guruji also urged members of the Kannada film industry, including actors and actresses, to join the farmers' movement and extend their support to what he described as a just struggle.

He said that if the film fraternity failed to stand by the farmers, the farming community should boycott cinema theatres and refrain from watching films.

He also appealed to farmers to support the bandh by withholding the sale of essential commodities, including milk and vegetables.

Guruji asserted that the agitation would continue until the state government and sugar factory owners came forward with a concrete solution to the problems faced by sugarcane growers.

In Dharwad, farmers staged a massive protest by blocking the road at Nigadi village.

The protesting farmers raised slogans against both the Central and State governments, demanding an immediate announcement of "a fair price for sugarcane".

The protesting farmers also brought baskets of cow dung and placed them at the protest site to draw the government's attention to their demands.

The farmers demanded immediate intervention of the governments and warned that the agitation would be intensified if their demands were not addressed.

The agitators alleged that most of these sugarcane factories are owned by politicians and that they were hindering a hike in MSP of sugarcane. They charged that both the Centre and the state government were involved in the injustice to the farmers.

Belagavi district administration has imposed restrictions on protests and road blockades along national highways, ahead of the farmers' proposed highway blockade on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan issued a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.

According to the order, no individual, organisation or group shall stage protests or demonstrations on any national highway passing through Belagavi district, including National Highway-48. It categorically prohibits blocking national highways under any circumstances.

The order also prohibits staging protests at the three toll plazas in the district or obstructing their functioning.

Further, no person or group shall obstruct vehicular movement on roads connecting to national highways by placing tractors or any other vehicles, the order stated.

The district administration has also warned against causing damage to public or government property and cautioned that any such attempts would invite action.

The Dharwad Deputy Commissioner also issued similar prohibitory orders across the district.

A week ago, Chief Minister D K Shivakumar tried to mediate between farmers and sugar industries and claimed a breakthrough in breaking the logjam. However, the farmers' stir has not ended.

The CM on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Food and Public Distribution Pralhad Joshi to take early decisions on the demands of sugarcane farmers, including revising the MSP of sugar to end the ongoing agitation and facilitate the commencement of crushing operations.

"The farmers' main demands, including a cane price on the C2 + 50% formula recommended by the National Commission on Farmers and a lower base recovery for the FRP, concern decisions of the Government of India," Shivakumar said in his letter to the Prime Minister.

The "C2+50 per cent" formula is the minimum support price (MSP) for a crop, which should be at least 50 per cent above its comprehensive cost of growing the crop (C2 cost).

He pointed out that the MSP of sugar had remained unchanged at Rs 31 per kg since February 14, 2019, even as the FRP had increased from Rs 2,750 to Rs 3,650 per tonne. With sugar selling at around Rs 45 per kg, a revision of the MSP would not increase consumer prices but help protect farmers' payments, he said.