The sugarcane farmers’ protest in Karnataka entered its third day on Thursday as farmers continued a highway padyatra towards Hubballi, citing demands for support prices for sugar and sugarcane and other pending issues. The march has affected highway traffic, while district officials have met the protesters and appealed for a peaceful demonstration.
The padyatra began on Wednesday evening from the Hattargi toll plaza in Hukkeri taluk and reached Belagavi by Thursday evening. The farmers spent the night near the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, staying at a kalyana mantapa and temples. State Raitha Sangha honorary president Shashikant Padasalagi Guruji said the protesters would stay at M.K. Hubballi in Channamma Kittur taluk on Friday and enter Dharwad district on Saturday.
Farmers continued walking along the highway despite the heat. According to the report, they sang farmers’ songs and performed ‘arenshirt’ rolling protests along the route. Some participants who fell unwell were attended to locally during the march.
Speaking to Prajavani, State Raitha Sangha president Choonappa Pujeri said the farmers had noted the Centre’s decision to form a joint committee to examine their demands, but questioned why the move had not been made earlier. He also acknowledged that the highway protest was causing inconvenience to residents and vehicle users, while arguing that the farmers’ demands could not be ignored.
Pujeri said farmers had staged a large protest outside Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s residence in Hubballi a month earlier and questioned the timing of the committee’s formation. He claimed that sugarcane was drying in fields and that factories were shut. These statements were made by the farmers’ organisation and were not independently verified in the report.
The report said the government had stated that the highway disruption had caused losses amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees. It also carried a statement attributed to the committee formed by the Centre for revising the minimum support price for sugarcane. The committee is expected to collect information from all states and submit its report soon. The statement said the farmers’ issues could be resolved within two or three days, although no detailed resolution or implementation schedule was announced.
Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Roshan and city Police Commissioner Prakash Nikam met the farmers near Mahantesh Nagar Circle and enquired about their health. Roshan said the district administration was concerned about the farmers and would provide necessary cooperation, while asking them to continue the padyatra peacefully.
Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, speaking to reporters at Uchila in Kaup taluk, said a Union minister had convened a meeting to discuss the sugarcane growers’ protest. He said both farmers and sugar factories needed to remain viable, and urged the protesters to remain patient. Shivakumar described the issue as a national problem rather than one limited to Karnataka, citing reduced crop output due to inadequate rainfall. He also appealed to farmers not to take the law into their own hands and said sugar and sugarcane prices had not increased over the past decade. The next stated milestones are the farmers’ stay at M.K. Hubballi on Friday and their planned entry into Dharwad district on Saturday.
