The Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association has decided to file a writ petition before the High Court of Karnataka in Kalaburagi seeking a direction to the Commissioner for Cane Development and Director of Sugars to fix harvesting and transportation charges for sugarcane from the farmers field to the sugar factories uniformly at Rs. 400 per tonne.

Jagadish Patil Rajapur, president of the association’s Kalaburagi unit, told presspersons here on Thursday that the writ petition would be filed before the High Court on March 16. He said that the action of the Commissioner for Cane Development and Director of Sugars issuing guidelines for fixing harvesting and transportation charges at Rs. 850 per tonne with additional diesel charges was anti-farmer and pro-sugar factories.

He said that the harvesting and transportation charges fixed in the guidelines issued by the Commissioner were a replica of what was being followed illegally by sugar factories which deducted Rs. 800 to Rs. 1,000 per tonne as harvesting and transportation charges. The guidelines also provide flexibility for increasing the harvesting and transportation charges.

The State government and the Commissioner, who had failed to ensure that the sugar factories adhered to the Fair and Remunerative Prices fixed by the Union government for 2014-15 and 2015-16, have now sounded the death knell to sugarcane growers by issuing the guidelines on March 1 this year.

Mr. Patil said that the farmers were to get Rs. 550 crore as per the Fair and Remunerative Prices from sugar factories for sugarcane supplied in 2013-14 and Rs. 500 crore for sugarcane supplied in 2014-15.

Mr. Patil said that the March 1 guidelines based on the prevailing diesel prices was in contrary to the harvesting and transportation charges fixed in December 2014 by the government.

The price of diesel per litre was Rs. 54.92 in December 2014, but the price of diesel has come down to Rs. 48.47 per litre now.

Instead of reducing harvesting and transportation charges, the guidelines have provided for increasing the charges ranging from 15 per cent to 30 per cent of the charges levied on sugarcane growers in 2014.

If the transportation charges in 2014-15 were Rs 55.83 to Rs. 103.83 (40 km to 120 km) in 2015-16, the factories deducted Rs. 101.86 to Rs. 149.85 for the same distances at a time when the price of diesel had come down. Harvesting and transportation charges have increased by nearly 1,000 per cent due to the unscientific fixation of charges by factories.