Belagavi: Belagavi Bar Association office bearers on Thursday submitted a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister DK Shivakumar, supporting the agitation by sugarcane growers and urging fulfilment of their demands.The advocates sought an increase in the minimum support price for sugar from Rs 31 to Rs 60 per kg, implementation of Swaminathan Commission recommendations and payment of a prescribed fair and remunerative price of Rs 5,500 per tonne of sugarcane supplied by farmers.Association secretary Sachin Shivannavar said sugarcane farmers were vital to the agricultural economy and sugar and related product output, but faced financial hardship because of rising costs of fertilisers, pesticides, labour, irrigation, transportation and other inputs. Uncertainty over remunerative prices had aggravated their difficulties.Shivannavar urged the central govt to prioritise and fully procure sugarcane- and maize-produced ethanol from Karnataka, rather than favouring other states. He also sought fixation and implementation of sugarcane FRP by state govt.The association demanded timely payments to growers and a mechanism to monitor sugar prices, sugarcane procurement prices and factories’ FRP payments. It sought action against factories failing to meet statutory requirements.
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