Congress member Ravikumar Gowda on Friday alleged in the Legislative Assembly that Karnataka State Pollution Control Board officials have been harassing jaggery-making units in Mandya district by insisting that all households running the units should obtain licences from the board to operate them.
Mr. Gowda said there are 1,050 jaggery units in the district and many of them have been operating in the households for several decades. The cottage industry has been facing numerous problems in the district and instead of helping the units, board officials have been insisting on licences and harassing owners of the units, he said.
In reply to Mr. Gowda, Minister for Horticulture, Sugar and APMC Shivanand S. Patil said the issue comes under the jurisdiction of the Forest Department and he would convene a meeting of both Sugar and Environment and Forest departments to resolve problems faced by the jaggery unit owners. Contrary to the figure given by Mr. Gowda, Mr. Patil said there are only 614 units in the district.
Darshan Puttannaiah of Sarvodaya Karnataka Party (SKP) said sugarcane growers had been facing many problems, including low recovery of yield and meagre minimum support price for cane supplied to factories. He demanded a half-hour debate on the matter. Sugarcane crop was being grown on 41,139 hectares in the district by 67,636 farmers, he said.
