Former Chief Minister and Amritsar MP Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday warned the Akali-BJP Government against the “undue and unwarranted delay” in the payment to sugarcane farmers across Punjab by the State owned sugar mills.
“The State-owned mills owed about Rs 250 crores to sugarcane growers which was pending for a long time now. Farmers are being forced to go for protest,” said Capt Amarinder.
Asking the State Government to set a deadline for releasing the payment to the sugarcane growers of the State, Capt Amarinder warned that, otherwise, the Congress will launch a state-wide agitation.
“On one hand, the Government is asking the farmers to go for diversification and grow alternate crops like sugarcane, but when it came to paying them for their produce, the Government failed to pay it on time,” pointed Capt Amarinder.
The former Chief Minister said that there were thousands of sugarcane growers in the State who were awaiting the payment from the Government.
He hoped that the Government will make the payment to the farmers in a time bound manner so that they are not forced to come on roads and in case that happen, the Congress will launch protest dharnas all over the State.