Sugarcane farmers begin padayatra to Belagavi as part of Jail Bharo plan

Some sugarcane farmers wearing T-shirts that say “Prisoner Number 5,500” to highlight the fact that they are demanding ₹5,500 per tonne of sugarcane during a protest in Belagavi on Monday.

Farmers on Monday began a padayatra to Belagavi from Gurlapur Cross as part of their Jail Bharo protest for higher sugarcane prices.

Some of the protestors, including Kishan Nandi, wore T-shirts that said “Prisoner Number 5500” to highlight the fact that they are demanding ₹5,500 per tonne of sugarcane.

They are expected to camp at Kabbur Naka on Monday night and reach Hindalga Central Prison in Belagavi on Tuesday morning.

They hope to continue the rest of the 90-km journey in vehicles, farmers said.

“We plan to stay in Kabbur village tonight, where we will deliberate on the strategy for the next phase of our struggle,” farmers leader Chunappa Pujeri told reporters.

Police stopping sugarcane farmers who tried to forcibly enter the Hindalga Jail in Belagavi on Monday.

Meanwhile, some farmers tried to forcibly enter the Hindalga Jail in Belagavi on Monday. Police and jail authorities stopped them.

The agitation was started two months ago with a demand for a price of ₹5,500 per tonne of sugarcane.

Members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene held rallies in Hubballi, Belagavi and Dharwad. They also took out a padayatra to Hubballi, planning to lay a siege to the house of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.

The protest was temporarily halted after Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar held a meeting at the Suvarna Soudha with farmers and sugar factory owners.

However, they resumed it after the Chief Minister’s offer to mediate between the stakeholders in two days, lapsed on Saturday.

Minister for Cooperation Laxman Savadi has called for a truce. He told reporters in Bengaluru on Monday that he has made an appeal to Mr. Joshi to decide on the revision of Minimum Selling Price for sugar as soon as possible.

“I have also asked sugar factories to announce a price for this crushing season before Tuesday, so that factories can start operations. I also appeal to all the farmers associations to allow factories to start crushing as any delay in harvesting will reduce the sugar content in the crop and reduce sugar yields,” he said.

Mr. Savadi said that Mr. Joshi and other leaders are trying to pass the burden on protecting the interest of farmers to the State government, as they wanted to escape from their responsibilities.