Raju Shetti on warpath against sugar factory owners; Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana activists block Pune-Bengaluru highway
The Hindu
Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana agitates, demanding higher FRP from sugar factory owners, block Pune-Bengaluru highway. Mr. Shetti demands ₹100/tonne over FRP for last season, plus additional ₹100/tonne for this season. Despite traffic diversions, protest throws commute off-kilter. Mr. Shetti accuses factory owners, leaders of colluding against farmers. Talks between SSS and govt fail, deadlock persists.
Hundreds of agitating farmers and activists of the Raju Shetti-led pro-farmer Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS) staged a blockade of the Pune-Bengaluru highway at Kolhapur on Thursday, demanding a higher fair and remunerative price (FRP) from sugarcane factory owners.
Mr. Shetti has demanded that sugar factory owners in the State’s ‘sugar belt’ districts (of Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli where the SSS wields influence) pay ₹100 per tonne over and above the FRP for the cane crushed in the last season, along with an additional ₹100 per tonne over and above the FRP price to be fixed this season.
While Maharashtra Minister Hasan Mushrif, an influential leader from Kolhapur, said that mill owners had agreed to pay ₹50 per tonne over and above the FRP from the cane crushed last season, Mr. Shetti and the SSS refused to budge from their programme.
According to authorities, SSS activists and farmers began holding up traffic after 11 a.m. on Thursday, with the blockading continuing for several hours throughout the day. Despite traffic diversions, the SSS protest threw commute off-kilter along the highway.
Mr. Shetti, a former two-time MP from Hatkanangale in Kolhapur, had already warned mill owners and the Maharashtra government of today’s action following the failure of talks between the SSS and the government on yesterday.
Initially, Mr. Shetti had demanded factory owners pay ₹400 per tonne extra over the government-declared FRP for cane sold to mills last season – a demanded rejected by mill owners.
Following this, Mr. Shetti had been prepared to climb down to ₹100 per tonne over and above the FRP, while stating that the mill owners must pay the amount in the wake of the SSS’ compromise.
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