Unhappy cane farmers to march to Lucknow on July 15

The Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan has been demanding paying interest on sugarcane dues of farmers pending with mills

Another farmers’ movement is on rise in Uttar Pradesh under the aegis of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangthan (RKMS) which has been demanding paying interest on sugarcane dues of farmers pending with mills.

V M Singh addressing a panchayat of farmers (HT Photo)

The Sangathan has given a call of a march to Lucknow on July 15 and convened a Mahapanchayat of farmers in the entire sugarcane belt to mobilise farmers to participate in the march.

Sangthan president V M Singh has so far convened panchayats in Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur and Meerut and has a plan to convene similar panchayats in other districts of western UP till July 12.

Speaking to HT over the phone, he said that the objective of these panchayats was to mobilise farmers for the Lucknow march to mount pressure on the state government to ensure payment of interest on dues of payment of sugarcane farmers since 2011.

Singh said that the Uttar Pradesh cane commissioner had issued an order for payment of interest in 2019 but the government didn’t comply with its own order.

Singh claimed that ₹11 to 12 thousand crore of interest on delayed sugarcane payment is due on mills which are running in profit but not paying farmers. He claimed that UP has 70 lakh sugarcane farmer families and payment of interest will benefit each farmer to the tune of ₹20 to 25,000 thousand per acre.

Singh also said that PM Narendra Modi had promised payment of sugarcane in 14 days otherwise farmers will get interest on delayed payment. “His promise remained hollow and payment of thousands of rupees of farmers is still pending with the mills,” said Singh. He said that the union government declared a relief package of ₹20 lakh during the pandemic. This amount could be either directly distributed among farmers, or distributed as loans to them. Once the mills release their interest and pending payment, the farmers would return the amount received to the government.

Meanwhile, the Sangthan also has sent a memorandum to chief minister Yogi Adityanath in which they have demanded payment of sugarcane crushing season 2020-21, payment of interest on delayed payment, and to raise the sugarcane MSP to ₹450 per quintal in the wake of escalating prices of diesel, seeds, fertilizer and other commodities.

CAPTION: V M Singh addressing a panchayat of farmers.