Summary:
PHAGWARA: Their demands for release of pending dues and directions to private mills to start crushing ignored so far, cane growers from across the stage began a dharna here on Tuesday. The agitation, which is being held by seven farmers’ organizations, began with a dharna outside the Phagwara sugar mill gate around 10.30am. However, it was only on Monday that senior government officials held their first meeting with private millers.Apart from demanding release of last year’s dues of around Rs 400 crore, their biggest concern is that private mills, which have over 70 % of crushing capacity, have not started crushing. One in the morning, to block the NH around two and half kilometres from the mill, and another in the evening, saying that if their issues were not resolved, they would completely choke the NH after 5pm. However, the protesters shifted the venue to the national highway at Nawanshahr Bypass around 4pm, completely choking the traffic between Jalandhar and Ludhiana – one of the busiest stretches in the state – and Jalandhar-Chandigarh highway.The farmers served two ultimatums during the day..