Sugarcane price protest: Vehicles damaged as farmers throw stones in bid to block Pune-Bengaluru national highway in Belagavi district of Karnataka

Several vehicles were damaged when farmers threw stones in a bid to block the Pune-Bengaluru national highway, near Hattargi in Belagavi district of Karnataka, on November 7. There were no reports of injuries.

On November 6, farmers’ leaders had agreed to postpone the Belagavi bandh by two days to allow Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to announce a remunerative price after meeting factory representatives.

Leaders Chunappa Pujari and Sri Shashikant Guruji of Inchigeri Shakha mutt had assured Sugar Minister Shivanand Patil that they would put off the bandh, but would not suspend the agitation till a remunerative price was announced.

However, a group of farmers tried to block the highway near Hattaragi on the Kolhapur road. Farmers first blocked the service road using tractors. But a team of police officers led by Javed Mushapuri convinced them to allow movement of vehicles. The protesters then travelled a few kilometres further, and blocked the highway and the service roads at another point. When some vehicles tried to move past the blockade, some farmers began throwing stones.

A team of Karnataka State Reserve Police dispersed the crowd and cleared the blockade.

Sugarcane farmers have been on a protest at Gurlapur in Belagavi district for nine days now demanding a price of ₹3,500 per tonne, apart from cutting and transportation charges. The Fair and Remunerative Price announced by the Centre in May is ₹3,550 per tonne, for factories with a sugar recovery of 10.25%, including cutting and transportation charges. When the recovery rises by 1%, the factories are supposed to pay ₹346 more, and deduct the same amount if the recovery falls by 1%. The factories are rule-bound not to pay below ₹3,290.

Union Minister for Sugar Pralhad Joshi said that it is up to the State Government to resolve the confusion over the FRP mandated by the Union Government, and whether the price includes cutting and transportation charges. He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was wrong in blaming the Centre for the protest, and that he had to resolve it by talking to factory owners and farmers.

“The centre has announced a FRP of ₹3,550. If there is any confusion about how this figure was arrived at, it is the for the State Government to sort it out. The Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several steps for the welfare of farmers and development of factories. It has allowed export of sugar and ensured that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) buy sugarcane-based ethanol from factories. We allowed OMCs to buy a total of 139.8 crore litres of ethanol from Karnataka in 2024-25. Of this, around 80 crore litres comes from sugarcane. The CM has claimed that Karnataka has only got 28 crore litres. He is obviously ill-informed,” Mr. Joshi said. He claimed that the documents provided by the CM only contain half-truths.

On November 7, Ramesh Jarkiholi, BJP MLA, whose family owns or manages some sugar factories, told reporters in Belagavi that he favours both farmers and factory owners. To a query on the FRP including cutting and transportation charges, he said he did not want to go deep into the issue and that he is only interested in the issue being resolved soon.