E-Paper
Seeking hike in cane SAP: Protesting farmers lock all sugar mills in Haryana
Having failed to convince the government for a hike in the SAP of sugarcane after repeated protests, growers in Haryana on Friday curtailed the supply of sugarcane by locking the main gates of all the sugar mills of the state.
Having failed to convince the government for a hike in the state advised price of sugarcane after repeated protests, growers of the state on Friday curtailed the supply of sugarcane by locking the main gates of all the sugar mills of the state.
Acting on the call given by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Charuni), farmers gathered at the sugar mills in the wee hours and locked the main entrances, thus stopping the supply of the sugarcane indefinitely. The crushing operations will stop after the supply of sugarcane will stop to the mills.
BKU (Charuni) has also got support of the farmers associated with the BKU (Tikait) and other farmer organisations in the state and they have threatened to continue the protests till the government accepts their demands to hike the sugarcane SAP to ₹450 from ₹362 per quintal. As per information, district-level committees have been formed and farmers will hold protests at the mills till the next decision is taken by farmer leaders.
In a statement, BKU (Charuni) state president Gurnam Singh Charuni said all 14 mills have been locked and there will be no crushing operations in the mills till the prices are increased.
Charuni also accused the government of forcing farmers to take this step saying that for the past two months they have made repeated requests to the government but they did not pay heed.
“We were left with no other option but to lock the sugar mills and the next decision will be taken in the state-level mahapanchayat at Kurukshetra to be held on January 23,” he added.
In Karnal, amid heavy police deployment farmers reached the sugar mills and locked all three mills of the district and did not allow the farmers to take sugarcane to the mill.
Farmers alleged that the government is harassing the farmers while the Punjab government has already fixed it to ₹380 a quintal. Similar protests were witnessed in Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Panipat districts as farmers had locked the main gates of the sugar mills at 8 am.
In Kaithal, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala extended support to the protesting farmers and accused the BJP-JJP government of harassing farmers. He said that the government has no concern for the farmers. Since Haryana is known for providing the highest sugarcane prices in the country, now the prices should be increased beyond Punjab’s ₹380 a quintal, he added.
Meanwhile, activists from several farmer unions on Friday started indefinite protests outside the sugar mills in Haryana demanding increase in SAP of sugarcane for this season.
The members of the unions gathered at the sugar mills early morning and stopped entry of tractors loaded with sugarcane amid heavy police presence.
As a mark of protest, they later ‘locked’ the entry of mills, thus halting crushing operations completely.
In Yamunanagar, the protests were held at Saraswati Sugar Mills on the NH-73, while in Ambala, the farmers agitated at Naraingarh Sugar Mills in Shahzadpur area.
Yamunanagar unit president of BKU (Charuni) Sanju Gurdiana said that despite assurance by the state government, there has been no increase in the prices.
