Govt to announce relief package for sugarcane farmers

Bidar, May 22 (UNI) The Karnataka government will announce a relief package to bail out sugarcane farmers who are in distress due to glut in sugarcane production Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said today.

Addressing a press conference in Humnabad near here, the Chief Minister appealed to the sugarcane growers not to take the extreme step as the state government would do its best to redress their grievances.

Mr Kumaraswamy alleged that certain farmer leaders mislead the farmers not to sell their sugarcane crops, which had led to the present crisis. He appealed to the farming community to trust the state government in getting relief.

Assuring the farmers that he would try to secure higher price of Rs 1,700 per tonne of sugarcane, as being paid in neighbouring Maharashtra, he said he would also visit some of the sugarcane fields in the district.

Mr Kumaraswamy said former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had written him a letter urging to provide internal reservation for other backward communities in the state. A decision on this regard would be taken within the framework of law, he added.

About the Ullal Assembly bypoll on June two, Mr Kumaraswamy expressed confidence that JD(S) candidate would win the election.

''I have also planned to campaign for the success of the party candidate'', he added.

Later, Chief Minister also held Janatha Darshan, in which he had received hundreds of petitions from the public.

UNI