The factories owe the farmers a sum of Rs 42325000, which has to be repaid with 15 per cent interest, as per an order issued by the High Court in 2001. But the authorities have been hesitating to take any action in this regard, claimed P N Mohan,  P S Ramakrishna Reddy, Lakshminarayana, Prasanna and Nataraj of the Rajya Raitha Sangha, at a press conference held here on Tuesday.

About eight years ago, farmers from the taluks of Gowribidanur, Doddaballapura and Chikkaballapura had been supplying sugarcane to the Siriguppa sugar factory.

Minister shareholder

“But the owners of the factory have cheated the farmers by not paying them their dues. A union minister is one of the shareholders in the factory , and due to pressure from him, the recovery process has been getting postponed,” say the irate Raitha Sangha members.

Recently, the Raitha Sangha led a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office, demanding that the money due to the farmers be reimbursed.

The deputy commissioner had then issued an order to the tahsildar on July 31, 2008, directing that the dues be recovered.

But the Sangha says that the tahsildar has taken no action to ensure that the farmers get their money.

The Raitha Sangha members have warned that they will hold an indefinite dharna outside the tahsildar’s office, if the farmers’ money is not recovered within a week.