Farmers protest, demand declaration of cane price

MEERUT Farmers under the aegis of Bharatiya Kisan Union( BKU), gathered at the headquarters of different districts across the western UP and staged protests demanding declaration of sugarcane price, free electricity for irrigation, check on stray animals and payment of sugarcane dues alongwith other demands.

The headquarter of BKU is situated in Sisauli, Muzaffarnagar and thousands of farmers gathered here led by BKU’s district president Yogesh Sharma. The farmers who arrived on tractors protested for two and a half hours. During this, the ADM administration Narendra Bahadur was made to sit in the middle of the dharna and farmers apprised him of their problems.

A memorandum was submitted to chief minister Yogi Adityanath throughthe district magistrate.Yogesh Sharma said that if the farmers did not get justice, a fierce battle would be fought.

Sharma accused the government of breaking its promises and described the problem of stray animals as very serious.

He said a day long demonstration was part of a state level call for protest and If the demands were not fulfilled then a decision would be taken for a bigger movement.

He said that the state government had promised free electricity for irrigation to farmers. This was also announced during the budget presentation, but till now it had not been implemented on the ground. The process of installing meters on tube wells should be stopped with immediate effect. Earlier, on taking connection of a private tube well, farmers were given 300 meter power line from the department. This should be implemented again.

BKU leaders said that in the last four years, the work of making the farmers poorer was done by increasing the price of sugarcane by only ₹25 per quintal. The government should increase the price of sugarcane to ₹500 per quintal.