Kolhapur, Maharashtra: Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader and former Member of Parliament, Raju Shetti, has started an indefinite sit-in protest, calling upon sugar mills to pay and additional Rs 400 per tonne to sugarcane farmers for the previous season.
Shetti declared his intention to commence this protest at Us Parishad in Jaysingpur, the largest gathering of sugarcane farmers. Representing the interests of farmers, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana also put forth the demand that farmers receive Rs 3,500 per tonne for the sugarcane they are due to harvest in the current season.
He said, Last year, mills made huge profits. They should share it with the farmers. I am starting my sit-in protest at Vikramsinha Ghatage ground in Jaysingpur and will not go back to my family and my home to celebrate Diwali this time. I will stop my sit-in protest only after the sugar mills deposit the money in the farmers’ accounts.”
