Despite the Samajwadi Party Government claiming to have resolved the sugarcane price issue with private mills, the crisis seems to be far from over as farmers have now started making discordant noises saying they will not sell their produce as sugarcane price was not judicious.
“This is a dhoka with farmers. The Samajwadi Party Government that claims itself to be pro-farmers has betrayed the faith of the cane growers. The price announced by the Government is not acceptable to the farmers,” national president of Bharatiya Kisan union Rakesh Tikait told The Pioneer on Monday.
He said that the last time a BKU delegation met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, he had promised that the Government would review cane price after meeting with sugar mill owners.
“What happened is nothing short of betrayal. Government agreed to sugar mill owners’ demand to pay cane dues in two installments meaning a cane farmer has to come twice to the mill to get his payment and he does not know exactly when he will get the second installment. With this decision, Government has stabbed on the back of farmers,” he said.
The State Government has accepted the proposal of private sugar millers to make payments in two installments of Rs 260 and Rs 20. The first installment would be paid within 15 days of cane purchase while the second would be paid within the crushing season.
The BKU declared that farmers will not sell their produce at this rate. Instead they would prefer to set their produce on fire. “Farmers in Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore, Shamli, and Meerut set cane on fire to lodge protest. This agitation is set to gather momentum,” he said.
The RlD too has lodged protest against Government decision to offer sops to the sugarcane millers. “The deal is nothing but a complete sell out. The Government has promised concession to cane societies but in reality the Government will never pay this money. It is just a scheme to extend benefit to the mills,” RlD state president Munna Singh Chauhan said in a statement.
The Bharatiya Janata Party too questioned as why Government was silent on the existing cane dues.