Farmers try jalsamadhi, authorities console them

Kolhapur: Several sugar cane farmers from Solapur and Dharashiv districts, who claim not to have been paid by a sugar factory, tried a ‘jalsamadhi’ in Sambhaji Maharaj Lake in Solapur on Wednesday morning.Hundreds of farmers gathered at the lake and were angry that their one-week old hunger strike went unnoticed by the authorities. The farmers claimed that Gokul Sugar Factory in Dhotri owes Rs130 crore of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) dues for the last two crushing seasons.“For one week, we were on hunger strike. No authority paid us a visit, no one was ready to help us get our money back. We are not able to purchase essentials as we don’t have money left. Therefore, we decided to take our own life by drowning in the lake,” said a farmer.Authorities, including the tehsildar and senior police officials, went inside the lake and reassured the farmers.District collector S Karthikeyan said that he has already given orders to recover the dues from the factory. The factor has been served notice, however now the recovery process will be speeded said the local authorities.Sugar commissioner Sanjay Kolte has recently declared that the sugar mills across the state still owes Rs 677 crore belonging to the farmers. For the last sugarcane crushing season nearly Rs 40,000 crore of FRP has been paid to the farmers across the state.