Maharashtra: Farmers protest in Solapur, seek higher price for sugarcane

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Farmers in Maharashtra's Solapur district have launched an agitation seeking a higher price for their sugarcane produce and deflated tyres of a vehicle transporting the harvest to sugar factory as a mark of protest.

They have demanded that the state government pay heed to their demand and resolve the issue.

A police official on Thursday said 11 tyres of a tractor-trolley were deflated by unidentified persons near Wakhari in Solapur on Wednesday night, but the tractor owner has not lodged a complaint.

Various farmer outfits, under the aegis of Solapur District Sugarcane Rate Struggle Committee, have been demanding Rs 3,100 per tonne of sugarcane as against the current rate of Rs 2,100 to Rs 2,300, a member of one of the protesting organisations said on Thursday.

The pro-farmer bodies had also appealed to transporters not to ferry the sugarcane harvest from farms to sugar mills.

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"Recently, we had a conclave of around 20,000 sugarcane cultivators in Solapur district. In the meeting, we demanded that the farmers get a rate of Rs 3,100 per tonne. We sought that a farmer should get Rs 2,500 as the first instalment and the remaining Rs 600 at the time of the final bill," Sachin Patil, a member of the pro-farmer Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, told PTI.

But, the state government and local administration have not taken cognisance of the protest, he said.

"In the meantime, sugar mill owners have started instigating tractor operators involved in transporting the sugarcane to factories. Because of all this, the sugarcane cultivators are becoming impatient as the input cost is very high due to the inflation and the rise in prices of fertilizers," Patil said.

As a result, tyres of a tractor carrying sugarcane to the factory were deflated at Wakhari near Pandharpur town in Solapur late Wednesday evening, he said.

"The state government should pay heed to the farmers' demand before the situation goes out of hand. The government and the local administration should meet the protestors and resolve the issue," he said.

Pandharpur Gramin police station's inspector Dhananjay Jadhav said 11 tyres of the tractor which had two sugarcane-laden trolleys were deflated by unidentified persons near Wakhari on Wednesday night.

"So far, the tractor owner has not come forward to file a complaint," he said.

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