Sugarcane growers, traders and workers of various organisations, organised a rasta-roko from to put pressure on the State government to announce State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane.
Rasta-roko was organised on all national highways, State highways and major roads in Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur and Dharwad, which fall under the sugarcane belts of North Karnataka region.
The sugarcane farmers said that the State government had adopted “delaying tactics” to assuage farmers, who were agitated over the delay in announcement of SAP for sugarcane.
The farmers were upset with the failure of the government to ensure payment of arrears for the preceding crushing year 2012-13 from sugar factories in the State.
The government was playing with the plight of nearly 2 crore farmers, 50,000 traders, 15,000 labourers and another 15,000 tractor drivers dependent on the sugarcane industry in the State.