Sugarcane farmers halted their protest against the government for delay in payment of arrears by sugar factories following assurances by Minister D.K. Shivakumar that the government would ensure that the promises made by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy would be met in two weeks.
The Medical Education Minister, who was visiting the city to participate in a few functions, spoke to farmers who were protesting in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. He listened to them for a few minutes. Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha leaders complained to him that most factories had crores of rupees in arrears. They showed him some records of pending dues by factories. “But they falsely claimed before the Chief Minister that they had no pending dues to settle,” KRRS functionaries alleged.
The Minister said that it was unfortunate that factories had such a large amount of arrears. “The government is with you. We are committed to farmers’ welfare. We will see that justice is done,” he said.
He told reporters that he would carry the concerns of the farmers to the Chief Minister. The government will ensure that sincere attempts are made to fulfil the farmers’ demand of payment of arrears, bearing of transportation and cutting costs by the factories and ensuring remunerative prices for sugarcane.
Jarkiholi brothers
Asked if would request the Jarkiholi brothers to settle their dues to farmers, Mr. Shivakumar said he was confident that they would settle their bills on their own. Pressed by some reporters to comment on the specific allegation of non-payment of arrears by Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mr. Shivakumar said : “He is a senior leader. I will not comment about him.”
Mr. Shivakumar handed over packaged juice to KRRS leaders including Sidagouda Motagi and Jayashree Gurannanavar.
Mr. Motagi later told reporters that they would wait for 15 days for the government to meet their demands and resume the strike if the government did not act within that time.
Meanwhile, the Jarkiholi brothers Ramesh and Satish did not accompany Mr. Shivakumar when he met the protesters. This is being seen by Congress leaders in the district to be another of the incidents that demonstrated the differences between Mr. Shivakumar and Jarkiholi brothers. "
"They did not meet him as long as he was in Belagavi. They did not accompany him to the function at KLE or to the meeting of independent power producers. Lakshmi Hebbalkar, MLA, who is seen as a follower of Mr. Shivakumar, was also not seen with him,’’ a district Congress committee leader observed.
Bhalachandra Jarkiholi, the younger brother of the Gokak clan, who is a BJP MLA, told presspersons in Arabhavi that his factory owed no arrears to any farmer. "We have paid all our cane suppliers money as per government rules,’’ he said.
