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Sugar mills release partial dues after farmers lock BJP office in protest
A day after hundreds of farmers locked a local BJP unit office and godowns of sugar mills in Bijnor in protest against non-payment of dues, the sugar mills released a part of the outstanding amount.
A day after hundreds of farmers locked a local BJP unit office and godowns of sugar mills in Bijnor in protest against non-payment of dues, the sugar mills released a part of the outstanding amount on Wednesday, officials said.
Led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Digambar Singh, hundreds of farmers had locked the house of BJP MLA from Chandpur Kamlesh Saini, Bijnor’s BJP office and godowns of two sugar mills in Bijnor and Chandpur on Tuesday.
Bijnor district magistrate Sujit Kumar said following the protest, the sugar mills had released Rs 62 crore of the outstanding dues to the farmers on Wednesday.
“According to farmers, the total outstanding dues of this season and the last season stand at Rs 162 crore. The sugar mills have released last year’s dues of Rs 62 crore out of which cheques worth Rs 11 crore have already been encashed by the farmers,” he said.
BKU’s Bijnor unit president Digambar Singh said the farmers had decided to temporarily call off their agitation following the release of dues on Wednesday.
“If the remaining amount is not released soon, we will be forced to resume the agitation,” he said.
The farmers had been sitting on a dharna at Chandpur tehsil since January 3.
In January, another group of farmers had tried to immolate themselves in front of the district magistrate’s office.
