Demanding early payment of cane dues, Rashtriya lok Dal leaders have threatened to protest if they were were not cleared within a week. They also demanded restoration of power supply in several villages.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech had said that over Rs 700 crore was pending as cane dues whereas the fact is the due is to the tune of a staggering Rs 6000 crore. It seems that the officials have misled even the PM. This arrear should be released immediately,” state RlD chief Munna Singh Chauhan told reporters in lucknow on Friday.
Earlier, Chauhan had led a delegation of leaders to Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum demanding redressal of farmers’ woes. Through t he memorandum, he had compalined of non-availability of power, water, fertilizers and seeds beside highlighting the cane farmers's plight.
“last year the retail price of sugar was low. Hence the Union and state governments had given concessions to sugar mills. The situation has changed now. Prices of sugar in the market hase gone up. Still many mills have not cleared their dues. The SP government should take a stand and force mill owners to clear the dues,” he said.
Chauhan warned that if the state government failed to clear the dues, then RlD would stage protests from next month.