Delay in sugarcane payments: Woman farmers court arrest

KARNAL: Hundreds of woman farmers on Wednesday staged a protest outside the Karnal cooperative sugar mill here over delay in sugarcane payments.

The protesters urged the state government to disburse the pending payments of farmers and start construction work of new sugarmill in Karnal.

A group of 39 protesting women also courted arrest extending their support to the members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Mann), who have been protesting for the past two weeks.

The woman farmers said, “The sugarcane growers are becoming the victim of the government’s neglect. Our payments are pending for the past four months and the government is not taking the issue seriously,” said Neelam Rana, Karnal district president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU).

Rana said they will continue the protest till the government releases payments of farmers pending with private and cooperative sugar mills and starts construction for new sugarmill in Karnal, for which the foundation stone has already been laid by the chief minister.

Earlier, the protesting farmers also reached the residence of local MP Ashwini Chopra and submitted a memorandum of their demands at his office.

BJP’S Gharaunda MLA Harvinder Kalyan appealed to the farmers to end their protest, saying CM Manohar Lal Khattar has already made it clear that a sum of Rs 200 crore has been issued to the cooperative sugar mills for payments to farmers and the tender for the new sugar mill in Karnal will be floated within a month.