Kolhapur, Maharashtra: The Maharashtra Sugar Cane Cutting and Transport Workers Union (SITU) initiated a “stop sugar cane cutting” protest on Monday, citing unmet demands for an increase in commission rates for sugarcane cutters and a rise in transportation charges for vehicles transporting the produce to mills, reported The Times of India.
Despite several meetings between the organisation and sugar mills over the past two to three months, no concrete decisions were reached by Sunday, leading to the decision to halt all work. Subhash Jadhav, the State General Secretary of SITU, expressed frustration over the sugar factories’ reluctance to accept proposals for increased transport costs and worker commissions. Despite three meetings on the matter, a positive outcome was not achieved. Jadhav also noted that neither the state sugar federation nor the state government had called for a meeting to address the issue.
Jadhav stated, “The sugar federation and state government will now be responsible for the situation arising due to this.” He urged all sugarcane transport workers and contractors to support the movement, calling on sugar mills and district public representatives to work towards a speedy resolution of the issue.
