Chandigarh, November 1
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab MLA and Kisan Wing state president Kultar Singh Sandhwan has accused the Congress government of cheating the sugarcane farmers in the state. He said, “The Congress government of Punjab had announced Rs 360 per quintal price of sugarcane to the sugarcane farmers of the state, but did not provide the required notification and budget. Due to this the private sugar mills of the state have flatly refused to buy sugarcane from the farmers. As a result, sugarcane growers are in a state of shock.”
In a statement issued from the party headquarters here on Monday, Kultar Singh Sandhwan alleged that the claims of the Congress governments like the Badals-BJP had never come true. Sandhwan said, “The then Congress Chief Minister had promised the farmers unions that the sugarcane farmers of Punjab would be given Rs 360 per quintal and the Haryana model would be implemented. Celebrating this promise, the Chief Minister also fed ‘laddus’ to the farmers’ leaders; but these ‘laddus’ have proved to be a sweet poison for the sugarcane growers.”
Sandhwan alleged that the Punjab government had not provided adequate budget for the hike in sugarcane price and implementation of Haryana model, due to which the loss-making private sugar mills of the state had resorted to buying sugarcane from the farmers for next year and sugarcane bonds have been flatly refused. Not only this, but the Union of Private Sugar Mills, keeping their side in front of the farmers through various means said, “Punjab’s loss making private sugar mills are not able to pay the previous year’s sugarcane price of Rs 310 per quintal and many mills are facing arrears of the farmers. Therefore, these mills could not pay the price of Rs 360 to the farmers as under the Haryana model, the difference between the purchase price (FRP) of the Government of India and the purchase price of the state was not being paid by the Punjab government.”
Kultar Singh Sandhwan demanded from the Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi that in view of the interests of the sugarcane farmers, the requisite funds should be released immediately; orders should be issued for the procurement of sugarcane and order to start sugarcane bonds for the next year. Sandhwan said that the reason for refraining from buying sugarcane by private sugar mills was the private sugar mill mafia, whose principal representative was Rana Gurjeet Singh, who himself is a minister in Channi’s cabinet. He said that the government has knelt before the private mill mafia and as a result the farmers will be exploited this time too.
