Newskarnataka-Mysore

Mysore : Sugarcane growers staged a protest in the city on December 3, Tuesday  in order to pressurize the government to immediately solve the problems confronting them.

The growers  holding sugarcanes in hands took out a protest march  from Gun House till the Deputy Commissioner’s office. They sat on a dharna outside the office and shouted slogans against the government.

The agitators alleged that the growers were incurring a loss of Rs 500 per every ton of sugarcane  as the government had fixed the  price for the sugarcane with the condition that the growers themselves will have to supply the produce to the 12 factories  in  southern Karnataka. This has  given scope for exploitation of farmers by the sugar factories, they further alleged.

They  demanded that the government fixed  scientific prices for the sugarcane crops. Yet another demand was to fix sugarcane price on the basis of the crop yield.

The agitators also threatened to intensify their protest if the demands were not fulfilled. Kurubur Shanthakumar, President of State Sugarcane Growers’ Association, Attahalli Devaraj, General Secretary, Koodanahalli M Rajanna, District President and hundreds of sugarcane growers took part in the protest.