Team Herald
SANGUEM: The sugarcane farmers from Sanguem who have been agitating at Sanguem since the last five days under the banner of ‘Uus Utpadak Sangarsh Samiti’ finally withdrew their agitation in the late evening hours immediately after getting confirmation from the Committee members that the Government has considered all their demands which they had proposed at the time of commencement of agitation.
While the government had accepted three of the four demands on Tuesday, a special joint meeting was called by the Chief Minister DrPramod Sawant in Panjim of the representatives of Uus Utpadak Sangarsh Samiti and that of the the Government.
At the meeting which wasattended by the Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, Chairman of Sugarcane Facilitation Committee Adv Narendra Sawaikar, Ramesh Tawadkar, Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar, Chairman of Uus Utpadak Sangarsh Committee Kushta Gaonkar and others.The fourth demand pertaining to calculation of compensation for standing crop based on average of ten years of sugarcane supplied by individual farmer also came up for discussion.
After elaborate discussion on the matter, ‘Uus Utpadak Sangarsh Samiti’ members finally agreed for payment of compensationfor standing crop based on average of eight years of sugarcane supplied by individual farmer to Sanjivani Sugar Factory.
No sooner the message of the fourth demand being considered by the Government reached the agitators, there were tears of joy and firecrackers were burstto symbolise their victory.
The other demands, which were already accepted by the Government, comprised payment of compensation of Rs 3600per tonne for standing crop, payment to be effective latest by end of February and immediate payment of Rs600towards harvesting charges of the crop supplied by the farmers to the Laila Factory last year.
The agitating farmers had also demanded the acceptance of their demands in writing. This demand is also accepted by the Government and the farmers will be issued a letter to this effect inthe next two days, said sources.
The agitatingfarmers had to bear heavy rain on Wednesday afternoon but that did not deter the farmers from moving from the agitation spot.
The Chairman of Uus Utpadak Sangarsh Samiti, Kushta Gaonkar, and Vice Chairman Chandan Unandkar have thanked the government and the sugarcane farmers forremaining united till their demands were met. The committee members also thanked all the political leaders, NOGs and other individuals for their support and co-operation to the agitating sugarcane farmers during the last five days.
In the meantime, the Committee is likely to organise a rally in the Sanguem town on Thursday over their victory on the issue and for which they have been fighting for the last five days.
