BIJNOR: As the farmers under the banner of Azad Kisan Union attempted self-immolation outside Bijnor district magistrate’s office over pending sugarcane dues , the police here lathi-charged on them and used water cannons to stop them from immolating themselves and disperse the crowd of sugarcane growers Police have detained at least 8 farmers including Rajendra Singh , the national convener of the outfit. Police had allegedly thrashed a 62-year-old farmer to drag him out of sugarcane society. BJP MP Bhartendra Singh condemned the lathicharge.Azad Kisan Union had threatened that hundreds of farmers will indulge in mass immolation on Monday if sugarcane dues of Rs 824 crore were not paid until January 31 by district’s nine sugar mills. Out of this amount, Rs 62 crore pertains to previous year.On Monday, scores of farmers gathered at the premises of sugarcane development society, which is around 150 meters away from the district magistrate office. At exactly 1 pm, farmers reached collectorate and the moment first farmer lit his own blanket for mass immolation, police swung into action that led to heated arguments followed by lathicharge. Police also used fire tenders and water cannons to disperse the crowd.Those farmers who hid themselves in sugarcane society after the police onslaught began were chased and thrashed. Police have detained around eight farmers including Rajendra Singh and district president Birendra Singh. During the lathicharge, some farmers got injuries as well.According to circle officer, Mahesh Kumar, “Police had detained eight farmers from the spot who were trying to immolate themselves. A case will be registered against them as self-immolation is a crime.”Speaking to TOI, district magistrate, Atal Rai, said, “There are nine sugar mills here in the district. Out of these, two mills belonging to Wave Group did not clear the dues of previous year while rest have paid the dues of last year and they are doing new payment also. We had already filed an FIR against the mill authorities for not paying the dues.”Giving more details, Rai, said, “Some days ago, some leaders of Azad Kisan Union had announced to commit mass immolation. We had talks with them over the issue and assured them to get the dues cleared by February 11 but they were adamant to immolate themselves. There were some anti-social elements among the farmers who wanted to foment trouble in the agitation. On Monday farmers came to the collectorate and attempted to immolate themselves. Police had to apply water cannon to stop them from doing so. No lathicharge was ordered.”It is notable that there are nine sugar mills in the district which owe Rs 824 crore to 2.5 lakhs farmers. Out of which, two mills-Bijnor and Chandpur did not clear the sugarcane dues of previous crushing season. These two mills owe Rs 62 crore of the last years.”According to state office of cane department, there are 119 mills in UP state which owe around Rs 7000 crore to the farmers. Out of these, 24 mills have not cleared the dues of previous year which is Rs 1071 crore here, in the state.Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, during BJP’s west UP booth convention, had said, “State govt is committed to get sugarcane dues cleared in time. Recovery certificates of 10 mills in the state have been issued. We have given an ultimatum of 10 days to the mill owners to clear the dues. If they float the instruction, further action will be taken against them.”On the other side, lathicharge has stirred storm in the political circle. Reacting over the police action, former state minister and SP’s veteran leader-Moolchand Chauhan, condemned it and said, “It is not first incident, earlier also atrocity were committed on farmers in Delhi. Here farmers had come to get their legible sugarcane dues but they were given lathis.”Bijnor BJP MP Bhartendra Singh also condemned the lathicharge and said, “It is responsibility of the administration to maintain peace and stop any untoward incident but lathicharge was a bit too much. I will talk to higher authorities over this issue.”

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