Pilibhit BKU chief demands relief for sugarcane farmers
PILIBHIT: Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) district president Manjit Singh on Thursday demanded compensation for farmers of the Puranpur tehsil area who couldn’t harvest their cane crop in time this year due to delay in mill operations. This, in turn, has affected sowing of the wheat crop.
In a memorandum to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, he said the operation of Puranpur cooperative sugar mill began very late this year on December 5 compared to two private sugar mills here, LH sugar mill and Bajaj Hindusthan sugar mill, that rolled their wheels on November 3 and 9, respectively.
Singh said the wheat crop is normally sown between first and third week of November, after harvesting the ratoon crop, but the mill’s delayed operation forced farmers to miss this window.
He claimed the plant stopped functioning for over 10 hours on December 6 due to a technical defect in the boilers.
“We’re demanding reparation in lieu of lost wheat crop at a minimum average of 50 quintals of wheat produced per hectare. We want compensation at MSP after deducting the cost of production based on this year’s ‘scale of finance’ as computed by the district agriculture department,” Singh added.
Pilibhit district cane officer KR Bhargav said in Puranpur tehsil, 8,389 hectares are attached with Puranpur sugar mill for supply of sugarcane through a network of 13 procurement centres, including the mill gate.
