Sugarcane leaders urge Karnataka ministers to forfeit pay to fund drought compensation

Kurubur Shantakumar, head of the Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association, appealed to every state minister and legislator to give up their salaries and allowances so that drought‑stricken growers can receive compensation of about ₹25,000 per acre. He made the appeal while addressing a crowd of farmers in Yerikoppa, near Dharwad, who were part of the Hubballi Chalo padayatra. Shantakumar condemned Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar’s warning that sugar mills would shut if they accepted farmers’ demand for higher cane prices, calling the remark scare‑tactics. He asked both the Union and state governments to treat the farmers’ movement seriously and to stop turning the price‑rise issue into a political debate. The association’s demands include allowing separate pricing for sugar, strict enforcement of the 1966 Sugar Control Order that obliges mills to share by‑product profits with growers, and raising the Fair Recovery Price for cane by at least ₹4,500 per tonne based on a 10.25% recovery rate. Shantakumar also suggested the state divert part of its tax revenue to pay an additional ₹800 per tonne to farmers, mirroring a scheme used in Tamil Nadu. He called for immediate drought relief, total waiver of farm loans, and an end to forced recovery actions by private banks and micro‑finance groups that pressure women to sell jewellery or property. Legal steps, he said, should stop such recoveries for the next two years.

Context

The Sugar Control Order of 1966 still governs profit‑sharing between mills and growers, and drought conditions have sharply cut cane yields across Karnataka, prompting renewed calls for price adjustments and relief measures.