Jalandhar, March 24 ( ) Castigating the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the issues of sugarcane farmers Mahila Kisan Union has lamented that the problems of farmers in the state remain the same even in the administration of the AAP government, which came to power through the guarantee of revolutionary change in the Punjab and the farmers are compelled to sit on dharnas (demonstrations) for their demands but the government is not heeding to fulfill their genuine demands.
Expressing this view in a statement issued here on Thursday, State president of Mahila Kisan Union, Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Raju said the sugarcane growers of the Punjab are compelled to stumble for the last many years to get their dues from the cooperative and private sugar mills of the state but the present AAP dispensation is also not listening to their legitimate problems. “If this attitude of the AAP government continues, then it will not take long for the farmers to come on the roads”, she cautioned.
Bibi Raju added that the current crushing season of sugarcane in Punjab is almost over but farmers are not being given their dues on time. Thus the erring sugar mills are openly violating Section 15-A of the Punjab Cane (Procurement and Supply Regulation) Act, 1953 and the Sugarcane Control Order, 1966. so the state government should take immediate legal action against the guilty sugar mills and orders should be issued to pay the farmers’ arrears with 15 percent interest, she demanded.
Women farmers’ leader Bibi Raju informed that till March 18, 2022 the dues of farmers towards cooperative mills are Rs 280.70 crore while private sugar mills owe farmers Rs 513 crore. She added that in one case the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the sugar mills to make payments to the growers within a fortnight under the said Sugarcane Act, but despite that gross violation of these orders is being done by the erring mill owners and the concerned government officials did not pay heed to implement these orders as they seems to be taking the side of the owners, she opined.
Farmer leader Bibi Rajwinder Kaur Raju said the sugarcane growers are already in loss, so she called upon the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to intervene in the interest of farmers and ensure immediate release of cane farmers’ arrears with due interest and demanded immediate action against the delinquent mill owners.
