The Raju-Shetti led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have lambasted the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government for its apathy towards farmers after it issued a notification announcing the payment of the fair and remunerative price (FRP) to sugarcane farmers in two separate instalments instead of at one go.
While Mr. Shetti had dubbed the State government’s ordinance (which comes in force in the 2022-23 cane crushing season) ‘illegal’ and has threatened to move the Bombay High Court, the BJP has said it would launch a State–wide agitation in March to protest the government’s move.
“The State government better read the Centre’s guidelines on the matter carefully…No State government has been given the authority to declare FRP payment to farmers in instalments. This is illegal... we will be moving the High Court to quash it,” said Mr. Shetti, the former two-time MP from Hatkanangale in Kolhapur — a key district in Maharashtra’s “sugar heartland”.
