Farmers suffering, no Diwali for me: Jayant
SHAMLI: Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary announced on Thursday that he won’t celebrate Diwali this year as sugarcane farmers in Shamli continue with their protest against the non-payment of their produce.
For the past 82 days, farmers in the Shamli district have been staging a sit-in outside the Upper Doab sugar mill and sugarcane committee office, for the payment of about Rs 221cr for pre-crushing session.
On Thursday, a farmers’ meeting was held. It was attended by Jayant and Bhartiya Kisan Union’s national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait. The meeting involved discussions between farmers, sugar mill representatives and district administration officials.
However, a resolution regarding the payment issue “could not be reached”, and the farmers gave the sugar mill owners a week more to pay the outstanding amounts. If the issue remains unresolved, the farmers warned of a “larger protest”. Addressing the gathering, Tikait said there is a larger conspiracy. With no resolution at the meeting, Jayant declared that “he will not celebrate Diwali this year”.
