Mill closure in Punjab CM Mann’s constituency: How area under sugarcane reduced from 20,000 acres to 1,850 acres
The Bhagwanpura sugar mill in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s constituency Dhuri began operation in the early 1950s and has been under different owners. The mill spread over 75 acres of area used to cater to farmers in Sangrur, Malerkotla, Barnala, Patiala, and even some in Haryana. UP-based businessman Kunal Yadav acquired the mill in 2005 and announced its closure on October 27 this year as it was running into more than Rs 100 crore losses.
The owners also highlighted the lack of support by the state government, alleged unlawful activities by farmer unions, and inadequate raw materials as the major reasons for this decision.
However, farmers have their own story to tell. “The area under sugarcane used to be nearly 20,000 acres till 2017-18. Afterwards, payment problems from the mill side started, gradually the area under sugarcane kept reducing,” said Avtar Singh Tari from the Bhullarheri village of Dhuri, who this year grew sugarcane only on 2 acres of land, as opposed to around 20 acres earlier.
He added, “Who wants to reduce the area under sugarcane if payments are given within 15 days as per commitment? Do we even get 100 grams of sugar for free in the market? So why is a farmer who grows sugarcane taken for granted? The stakeholders before Yadav used to give payments on time for many years and when they started creating problems, the area under sugarcane in the early 2000s also reduced to less than 2,000 acres. Once Yadav took over the mill, farmers started growing more sugarcane as they asked for and even used to pay well.”
The mill owners posted a message on the main gate on February 28 this year itself that it would not operate from next year and advised farmers not to go for sugarcane crops anymore. On October 27, they officially made the announcement and committed to procure sugarcane sown in the pre-notice period.
According to the mill owners, they have to procure sugarcane from around 1,850 acres of land. Still, the Ganna Sangharsh Committee of Punjab, which has started a protest on the main road about half a kilometre away from the factory, says the area under sugarcane is 3,000 acres.
The administration says that around 5.7 lakh quintals of sugarcane are expected to arrive out of these 1,850 acres of land, while the Ganna Sangharsh Committee says that around 8-9 lakh quintals are expected.
The farmers have been told to either take the sugarcane to a mill 70 km away in Amloh area of Fatehgarh Sahib or to Mukerian 200 km away on their own or the Dhuri mill management will take it themselves as well.
“Payment will be done by Mukerian sugar mill in Hoshiarpur because the owner of Dhuri mill and Mukerian are the same,” said Sub Divisional Magistrate of Dhuri Amit Gupta. He, however, added, “Many farmers have already taken their produce to Amloh, and crushing has also started. The ones protesting will also be taken care of as we negotiate with them.”
Harjit Singh Bugra, president of the Ganna Sangharsh Committee, said, “Already 12 crore worth payment is outstanding against the Dhuri sugar mill, out of which Rs 2.5 crore is the government share. Now they are saying that the weighing of sugarcane can be done at Dhuri but payment will come from Mukerian. What is the guarantee? So, will we go 200 km away to Mukerian to follow up on our payment issue? Already, farmers in the Mukerian area have been protesting for delay in payment by mill owners.”
He stated that even his previous year’s sugarcane payment is due from the Dhuri sugar mill.
‘CM always assured the farmers’
After Mann became the chief minister, farmers of Dhuri and adjoining areas were upbeat that their problems related to the sugar mill would be resolved. Bugra said, “Sad enough, the chief minister met us two-three times over this matter but he always used to tell us that the mill will operate and issues will be resolved. But the mill has closed.
“Farmers said the area under sugarcane has gradually shifted to paddy and the rest will also be shifted. Farmers noted that, like in the past, the stakeholders of the mill can be changed if the current management is not willing to operate. However, the CM doesn’t seem to be keen to do anything in this direction,” Bugra complained.
Previous protests
Over the years, farmers in Dhuri have staged regular protests to get their money released. In June 2019, an auction notice was issued against the Bhagwanpura sugar mill to recover Rs 74 crore to be paid to the farmers. But the auction never took place and the owner cleared the payment in parts. In September 2022, Rs 7.82 crore was outstanding from the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons due to which auction orders were issued yet again.
“Eventually, many auctions were deferred and the outstanding amount was cleared by the mill,” said Bugra. “In the past five years, payments were released only after protests were staged,” added Jagtar Singh, a farmer from Sangrur’s Ghanaur Khurd village.
“This issue also was a hot topic in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in the 2022 Assembly polls and even in the 2022 Sangrur Lok Sabha by-poll. However, in 2019 and 2022 (Assembly polls), Mann used to be with us, and afterwards, he went to the other side of the table,” Avtar added.
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