Punjab: Farmers block highway in Phagwara over cane arrears

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Farmers Monday blocked traffic on a national highway near a sugar mill here to protest “inordinate” delays in clearance of arrears worth Rs 72 crore to cane growers by the mill management.
Under the banner of the Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba), the farmers began an “indefinite” sit-in on one side of the Ludhiana-Jalandhar section of NH-1 on Monday. The other side of the highway was kept open.
Addressing the protesters, BKU(D) president Manjit Singh Rai accused Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of having failed to resolve the issues faced by cane growers.
General secretary of the outfit Satnam Singh Sahni said, “If the amount of Rs 72 crore is not transferred into the cane growers’ accounts soon, we will block the other side of the highway too.”
Rai said, “The crushing seasin begins in November, but our dues of Rs 600 crore are still pending for the last season and other previous seasons”. He that that out of this amount Rs. 293 crore is pending towards the private sugar mills.
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