The Hubballi Chalo foot march led by the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene reached M.K. Hubballi in Channamma Kittur on Friday, with farmer leaders planning a meeting of representatives from all 31 districts before the march enters Hubballi on Monday.
The farmers are seeking a support price of ₹5,500 per tonne for sugarcane, ₹60 per kilogram for sugar, and the complete purchase of ethanol. They are also demanding that the Karnataka government announce an additional support price of ₹1,000 per tonne, on the lines of Tamil Nadu, and that sugar factories in the state pay an extra ₹500 per tonne.
The district-level presidents and office-bearers of the farmers’ organisations are scheduled to meet on Saturday at M.K. Hubballi to discuss the demands and decide the next steps. State Raitha Sangha president Choonappa Poojeri told Prajavani that the marchers would halt at Channamma Kittur or a nearby village on Sunday and enter Hubballi on Monday.
The marchers had stayed at Halaga-Bastawad village in Belagavi taluk before arriving near the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha on Friday morning. They raised slogans against both the state and central governments and staged a symbolic funeral procession for Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Villagers along the route provided drinking water, refreshments and meals. Employees of the North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation also joined the march and offered financial assistance, according to the report.
Shashikant Guruji, honorary president of the farmers’ organisation, who had been holding a road blockade near Gurlapur in Mudhol taluk for three days, also joined the foot march on Friday. The protest comes as the first meeting of the committee responsible for deciding the support price is scheduled for October 19. Authorities have appointed officials to hear the farmers’ concerns and have appealed to them to withdraw the agitation.
In a separate development in Mundargi in Gadag district, police detained more than 15 sugarcane growers who had arrived to submit a memorandum to Union minister Pralhad Joshi. More than 60 farmers gathered after learning that Joshi was expected to campaign there for the BJP in connection with the West Graduates’ Constituency election. Police Inspector Ayyanagowda Patil said the detentions were a preventive measure because of the possibility that the farmers could gherao the minister. Joshi did not attend the campaign meeting, the report said.
Farmers’ demands have also drawn comments from MP Jagadish Shettar, who said the state could address the Fair and Remunerative Price and minimum support price issues. Shettar said he had earlier handled the sugar portfolio along with the revenue department and had convened meetings with sugar factory owners to resolve similar disputes. He added that a separate law had been enacted at the time and said current Sugar Minister Rudrappa Lamani could prevent a crisis by addressing the issue.
The farmers’ meeting on Saturday, the support-price committee’s first session on October 19 and the march’s planned entry into Hubballi on Monday are the next stated milestones in the protest.
