TMC says sugarcane farmers were cheated
Panaji: Trinamool Congress on Monday called for a vigilance inquiry into the allegations that sugarcane farmers have been swindled during the sugarcane procurement process. TMC’s general secretary Rakhi Prabhudessai also questioned the role played by the Sugarcane Farmers Facilitation Committee, particularly the committee chief Narendra Sawaikar.
Prabhudessai, accompanied by sugarcane growers from Canacona, Netravali and Xeldem, has demanded that Sawaikar should make public his report on the revival plan for Sanjivani sugar factory and the efforts to setup an ethanol manufacturing plant in place of the sugar factory at Dharbandora.
She claimed that farmers, who were promised compensation for five years, have been told that the compensation will no longer be given after the third year onwards. She also claimed that though the farmers were assured of the compensation irrespective of their decision to grow sugarcane, a member of the facilitation committee coerced them into growing surgarcane with threats that they would not recieve compensation.
Prabhudessai said that a contractor has been harvesting the sugarcane and transporting the crop to Ajra, Maharashtra, for crushing but is not providing a clear account of the earnings to the farmers.
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