Siddaramaiah to discuss sugarcane growers issue with Centre

Belgaum: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said he is visiting New Delhi on December 6 to attend a meeting convened by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to discuss sugarcane growers issues.

"I am going to Delhi on December 6 to attend a meeting convened by Pawar to discuss sugarcane growers demand for higher price for the crop," he told reporters here. Siddaramaiah said he would give details on sugarcane farmers` problems to Pawar and state government`s decision to give Rs 150 incentive to them. He also said he would discuss the problems faced by sugar mills with the union government and seek relief assistance and come to the rescue of farmers growing grapes, cotton, tobacco and other commercial crops. Sugarcane growers, who rejected the price of Rs 2,500 a tonne fixed by the government, had staged protests here synchronising with the ongoing legislature session demanding that it be raised to Rs 3,500 per tonne. A sugarcane farmer had committed suicide here last week, bringing the issue into sharper focus. The government had recently constituted a 15-member sugarcane control board after the Karnataka Sugarcane (purchase and supply control) Act 2013 was amended in the monsoon session of the state legislature.