PONDA: Around 200 farmers on Tuesday staged dharna in front of Sanjivani sugar factory over the uncertain future of sugarcane production as well as of the factory.
The protesters were led by Farmers Association President Rajendra Desai.
The farmers said that they are agitating for ten demands. They said that the government had assured to spend Rs 100 crore in modernising the factory, but there is no sign of the same.
Worried that sugarcane production would seize in future, the farmers want a written assurance that the factory would be modernised. The farmers also demand that the 15 lakh square meter land of the factory should be protected from “land mafia which is trying to grab the land.”
Desai said that till the government gives them written assurance to fulfil their demands, the farmers would continue their agitation.
He said that the government had assured to take the responsibility of harvesting and supplying sugarcane to Karnataka factory but only 8,000 tonnes have been harvested and around 25,000-tonne crop is yet to be harvested.
He said that the government had never taken them into confidence over Sanjivani shutdown. “If the government wants to close down the sugar factory, then, it should pay them compensation for sugarcane production,” he said.
The farmers claimed that the government had asked them to double sugarcane production as it would build a new sugar factory. “But there is no effort on the part of the government to supply water; it has also not provided land for doubling production,” a farmer said. Due to these unfulfilled promises, the farmers doubt the intention of government to build a new factory.
The farmers also said that the government should provide workers for harvesting sugarcane and that the rates be fixed as they are overcharging. They also demanded hike in sugarcane rates and clearance of their bills on time.
The farmers said that they would send their sugarcane to Karnataka factory this season, but want the Sanjivani sugar factory operational in the next season.
Meanwhile, large police personnel were deployed at the factory to maintain law and order.
