Raju Shetti with his supporters staging protest outside Krishna sugar factory
After ending a 31-hour blockade on the national highway, Shetti visited cooperative sugar mills — Krishna in Karad, Kranti in Kundal, Sonhira in Kadegaon, and Hutatma near Ashta — and led protests outside their gates. Shetti has demanded a sugar cane price of Rs 5,000 per tonne, which, he said, would be feasible only if the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar was raised to Rs 50 per kg and ethanol procurement prices were fixed at Rs 70 per litre. The factories are run by members of both BJP and Congress.
Kolhapur : Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president Raju Shetti on Thursday intensified his agitation for higher sugar and ethanol prices, urging cooperative sugar factories to suspend cane crushing operations until Centre decided on key demands raised by farmers.
Addressing mill authorities, Shetti said sugar factories had begun crushing under govt pressure despite knowing that processing immature cane caused losses to both farmers and mills. We want the mills to keep crushing suspended until a decision is made,” Shetti said. Mill officials, however, said cane cutters from drought-hit Marathwada had already arrived for the season and would be adversely affected if harvesting and crushing were halted. Shetti said harvested cane could still be brought to factories to avoid losses for farmers, but maintained that crushing operations should stop from Thursday midnight. Factory representatives said they would discuss the proposal with their chairpersons and directors before taking a decision.
“The mills did not speak up when the government kept the sugar MSP unchanged.