Haliyal:  MLA R V Deshpande said the State government should exert pressure on the sugar factories to start crushing of sugarcane at the earliest and also respond to the demands of the farmers.

Speaking to media persons at his residence here on Saturday, he said there is a need for all political parties to come together, forgetting their party politics, and address the grave concerns of the sugarcane farmers. He also sought the cooperation of the sugarcane farmers to resolve the impasse.

He said already the EID Pary Sugar Factory here has agreed to process about 7000-8000 tonnes of sugarcane daily from the taluk. They have also informed that the transportation cost will be given as per the direction and order of the Government’s sugar commissioner, he said.

He said for the last 15-20 days the sugarcane growers in Haliyala have been staging a protest demanding FRP rate, harvesting and transportation cost and clearance of arrears. The senior Congress leader said, last year the factories paid Rs 2,592 per tonne of sugarcane crushed after removing harvesting and transportation cost.

However, this year the yield has reduced and the factories have decided to pay Rs 2,371 per tonne of sugarcane crushed, which is Rs 221 less than last year.

He said the government has the power to fix SAP rate on its own initiative. The government can fix the SAP rate based on the cost of production, he said and added that the State government has to immediately fix the FRP and SAP rates.