Bijnor: Thousands of sugarcane growing farmers took to the streets and held a day-long protest in UP’s Bijnor district on Saturday demanding payment of their dues which they said mills are not paying despite “cajoling and coercion” by the state government. Five farmers, who were on hunger strike over the non-payment of dues, fell ill and were taken to a hospital. During the protest, the cane growers also took part in a ‘mahapanchayat’ in Bijnor’s Chandpur area, which also gave a call for clearing the dues, which stood at Rs 485 crores for Bijnor alone.According to statistics, there are over 40 lakh sugar cane growers and 119 sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh. Out of these, around 34 sugar mills have failed to clear last year’s dues which is around Rs 1,875 crore. Farmers associated with these group’s mills are facing lot of financial hardships.In addition, sugar mills have started stopping payment of current crushing session. As per data, farmers have supplied sugarcane crop worth Rs 6,500 crore. Out of this, around 2,600 crore has been paid to the farmers. But, outstanding of this year is still around Rs 3,900 crore.Like the rest of UP, farmers of Bijnor, which is considered a hub of the crop, are also in a fix.According to statistics provided by district sugarcane officer of Bijnor, there are nine sugar mills which owe Rs 485 crore to the farmers in the district. Out of this, Rs 80 crores is from the last year.Addressing the gathering, Digambar Singh, district president of BKU, said: “Farmers are passing through hard time. They are unable to deposit schools fees of their children. Labourers are also asking for their wages but the farmers have no money to pay them.”Singh further said, “The government has given a huge subsidy to the sugar mills. Despite this, our dues are not being cleared by the sugar units. Three mills have not paid the dues of previous year. Administration had filed a case against the mill authorities for not paying dues in time. But it seems it was drama only to pacify the agitated farmers. No mill authority has been arrested so far they are roaming freely.”Talking to TOI, district cane officer, Yashpal Singh, said, “We are in touch with mills owners and authorities. Several meetings have been held in this connection and they were asked to pay the dues of the farmers. Around Rs 75 crore of previous year’s dues is pending. We have registered a case against three mills authorities in different police station areas.”

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