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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Deadlock over sugarcane price continues

Deadlock over sugarcane price continues

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published Published on Nov 11, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 11, 2011

-The Telegraph

 

Sharad Pawar’s hometown Baramati was shut down today by farmers demanding higher remunerative prices for sugarcane.

The protest by the farmers has sent a strong political message to the ruling Congress-NCP government.

Baramati is the seat of Maharashtra’s powerful and influential sugar belt that controls the state politics.

Shops and establishments were closed down as hundreds of sugarcane farmers camping here for the fourth consecutive day intensified their protest and organised rasta rokos.

Similar street protests were staged by Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS), as well as Shiv Sena-BJP, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), who declared support to the agitation, across western Maharashtra, including Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, and five tehsils of Nashik in north Maharashtra.

The protests led by SSS leader and Kolhapur MP Raju Shetty and supported by other farmer organisations are expected to further intensify tomorrow after the third round of talks in Pune with the state co-operatives minister Harshawardhan Patil in Pune in the evening failed.

The government has announced a fair and remunerative price of Rs 1,450 per tonne, which farmers claim is insufficient to cover their production costs and rising inflation.

Farmers are demanding Rs 2,350 per tonne as the first instalment before the 2011-12 crushing season begins.

Emerging from the meeting with farmer representatives, Patil said the talks failed to reach an agreement as he required to consult chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar before announcing a decision.

The failure of the talks further irked farmer leaders Raghunath Patil and Shetty, who said the protests and rasta rokos would continue tomorrow.

“Leaving aside our original demand for a minimum remunerative price of Rs 2,350 per tonne for first instalment of sugarcane, I had offered to accept a price of up to Rs 2,200 per tonne. However, the government appears to be delaying a decision for no apparent reason. So, if they don’t reach an agreement in tomorrow’s meeting, we will not sit for more talks and further intensify our agitation,” Shetty told reporters at the protest site.

Shetty has been on a hunger strike for the last three days at Baramati municipal council ground.

Raghunath Patil, who was present in the talks with the state co-operative’s minister, said: “We had told the government that any price ranging from Rs 2,100 to Rs 2,350 was acceptable to us. They did the math which clearly showed how the demand of Rs 2,350 was justified as it adequately covered the production costs of the farmers.

“However, the government seemed to dilly-dally an agreement. We are upset about this delay tactics and we will intensify our protests from tonight across the state.”

He said if the farmers resorted to violence, the Chavan government would be responsible for it.

The Congress-NCP government woke up to the demands after thousands of farmers led by Shetty reached Baramati from the temple town of Pandharpur on Monday and declared that they will camp there till the government agreed to their demands.

Sensing an opportunity to embarrass the ruling coalition ahead of the local bodies’ elections scheduled in December, the Sena-BJP-led Opposition has declared their support to the agitation.

A predominantly urban party like Raj Thackeray’s MNS also joined the agitation to make inroads into the rural votebank.

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar initially took a confrontationist stand on the issue.

However, as the agitation intensified, Baramati MP Supriya Sule was forced to meet the farmers yesterday afternoon even as NCP toned down its rhetoric and the chief minister sent the state co-operatives minister Harshwardhan Patil to Pune last night.

The minister held two rounds of talks that went on till 2am but failed to seal an agreement.

With the third round of talks also unfruitful and the farmers determined to intensify their agitation, it seems the Chavan government is running out of time.

The Telegraph, 11 November, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111111/jsp/nation/story_14735132.jsp


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