Non-payment of cane dues: Farmers to protest on May 28

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 21

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba) will hold a dharna against non-payment of sugarcane dues by private and government sugar mills on May 28 in Phagwara.

“The government is not helping us in the matter. We have given several letters and memorandum to officials and leaders in this regard but to no avail,” members of the union said.

They said the dharna would be held outside sugar mills on various days. “The farmers are in a poor condition at this point. On one hand, the government asks us to not to commit suicide but on the other it itself isn’t helping us, which has forced farmers to protest amid this crisis,” the members said.

Kirpal Singh, a farmer from the Shahkot block, said the mills had failed to clear the payments for the past five months. The sugarcane farmers had held a massive protest in December 2018, demanding the release of dues by government and private sugar mills in the state.

They said they were left with no option but to leave their families and hold dharnas. With the dues not being cleared, farmers said they were left with no option but to take loans from arhtiyas and banks to make ends meet.

They said sugarcane was the only crop that was helping the state get out of the vicious circle of paddy and wheat crops but the present condition of the sugarcane growers shows that the government hardly cared about the concept of crop diversification.