Farmers up in arms against Mahadiscom

Farmers at the Bachani village in Kolhapur district took out a procession on Monday to protest against the frequent load-shedding and inadequate power supply.

They gheraoed the office of RV Biranje, assistant engineer, Mahadiscom, at Kothali village for not accepting their grievances and demands.

The situation is no better in other villages. Farmers in other areas too are perturbed as Mahadiscom's officials have been disconnecting the supply to those who have not cleared their bills.

However, as the farmers have not received their cane bills from the sugar mills concerned they are not in a position to pay the power bills.

This problem was taken up by Raju Shetty MLA at a recent farmers' rally, who urged the authorities not to disconnect electricity to agricultural pumps merely because the payment was delayed.

The Mahadiscom's authorities, on the other hand, say they have been asked to recover the pending bills before March end.

Though it is statutorily binding on the sugar mills to pay the statutory minimum price (SMP) within 15 days of cane supply, most of the mills have not paid the SMP.