Protesting cane farmers meet agriculture minister, say dharna to continue
A delegation of sugarcane farmers, who had launched an indefinite dharna in front of Phagwara Sugar Mill earlier, met Punjab Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, on Thursday over their longstanding payment disputes.
The protest by the sugarcane farmers — most of who hail from the Doaba region — is being led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba) and has seen support from various other farmer unions.
On Thursday, BKU (Doaba) president, Manjit Singh Rai, met Khudian at Kheti Bhawan in Chandigarh. Apart from Rai, the others who attended the meeting included Punjab Sugarfed chairman, Navdeep Singh Jeeda, the state’s director of agriculture, Jaswant Singh, and officials from the Kapurthala district administration, among others.
After the meeting, agriculture minister Khudian instructed Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala, Captain Karnail Singh, to expedite the process of attaching the properties of the defaulting owners of Phagwara Sugar Mill.
Khudian has also emphasized on the importance of taking every possible measure to safeguard the interests of farmers, as according to him, the welfare of the state’s farmers remained the top priority for Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and his government.
Furthermore, the minister has urged the Kapurthala district authorities to ensure prompt clearance of all pending dues of the protesting sugarcane farmers.
As per estimates, around Rs. 42 crore in dues as payment has been outstanding to sugarcane farmers for the past four years.
Later, BKU general secretary, Satnam Singh Sahni, stated that although the minister has assured to clear all their dues, their dharna will continue for now till a satisfactory resolution is achieved.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba) Wednesday locked the gates of Phagwara Sugar Mill and blocked all the roads leading to the unit in protest against the delay in the clearing over pending dues to the sugarcane farmers. Farmers had then also launched an indefinite dharna in front of the gate of the mill, farm body’s chief Manjit Singh Rai said.
The outfit’s general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni had accused the district administration of dilly-dallying on the issue of auctioning the properties of the mill owners.“If the government does not address the issue within the next two days, a more vigorous action will be initiated,” he added.
The protesting farmers demanded the registration of a cheating case against the mill owner.
