Sugarcane farmers protest over arrears

The farmers who gathered in front of the sugarmills on Deepavali, raised slogans demanding payment of arrears of Rs 30 crore. They pointed out that, while, the state government had fixed Rs 2,750 per tonne as the State Advisory Price (SAP), the sugarmills all over the state paid Rs 450 less than the fixed price for the last few years.

Following this a whopping Rs 1,000 crore has been pending as arrears to the farmers across the state. According to the farmers, the arrears were to be paid to the farmers who supplied cane to AASM, amounting to Rs 30 crore. They stated that they had protested several times demanding the disbursal of the amount before Deepavali but in vain.

“Since they failed to disburse the dues, we could not celebrate the festival as there was hardly any money with us for shopping the festival things,” farmers added.

Hence, they protested with black flags and black badges. The protesters also demanded the union government to fix Rs 4,000 per tonne as the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP). The protesters announced they would fast if the arrears were not paid at the earliest.