Sugarcane growers accuse Khattar of betraying them

KARNAL: Accusing chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar of betraying the farming community, leaders of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) on Monday threatened to resume their protest for pending payments of over Rs 200 crore with three private sugar mills in the state.

The farmers held a meeting in Yamunanagar where they decided to call a state-level Mahapanchayat in Yamunanagar on September 13 to decide their future strategy.

Addressing the gathering of farmers, BKU state secretary Harpal Sudhal said the decision to resume the protest was taken as the chief minister has failed to the keep the promise made during a meeting with farmers at his Chandigarh residence on August 29.

“Following a threat to disrupt his road show on August 31, the chief minister had called us for a meeting in Chandigarh and assured that the pending payments will be released within next three days, but 12 days have passed since then, but the farmers did not get a single penny,” said Sudhal.

He said that after the Yamunanagar meeting on September 13, the farmers would start statewide protests by blocking road and rail traffic from September 14 if the payments are not released in the next two days.

Bhartiya Kisan Union Yamunanagar district president Sanju Gundiana said, “The government is not taking the problems of the farmers seriously. We are compelled to take money at higher interest rates from commission agents to feed our children, whereas sugar mills are earning interest by holding our payments for the past four months.”

BKU CALLS STATELEVEL MAHAPANCHAYAT IN YAMUNANAGAR ON SEPTEMBER 13 TO CHALK OUT STRATEGY