Pawar assures of action to help sugar cane farmers

New Delhi, May 29 (UNI) Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has assured Karnataka that 'action would be taken in a fortnight's time to protect ailing sugarcane farmers and industries.

An assurance to this effect was conveyed to Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash and Planning Minister Ramachandra Gowda by Mr Pawar at the end of the National Development Council meeting where Karnataka had sought central help for the farmers and sugar industries.

The state had said sugarcane farmers in Karnataka were cultivating in 3.75 lakh hectares, producing 357 lakh tonnes of sugarcane. The sugar factories were crushing 240 lakh tonnes.

due to depressed prices in the international market, the factories had stopped crushing sugarcane and were unable to pay the money fixed for the sugarcane, leaving the farmers high and dry.

Mr Prakash expressed Karnataka's unhappiness about the Centre's inability to respond to the suggestions made by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on various issues, including providing farm loans at four per cent interest rate or else as like Karnataka.

The banks should be made to provide loans at this rate as it would create disparity among the cooperative and bank loan borrowings. He said the state had told the NDC about waiver of loans of Rs 25,000 as a measure to check farmers' suicides.

Mr Gowda said Finance Minister P Chidambaram was convinced of Karnataka's logic and said he would 'think it over'. The state had sought providing free power to the irrigation pump sets since the farmers had invested 15,000 crore for developing the infrastructure as against Rs 18,000 crore investment on building dams and distributories for providing irrigation facilities.

UNI