Crushing season at Naraingarh Sugar Mills begins today

Ambala, November 11

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Naraingarh Sugar Mills is all set to start its crushing season from Tuesday, but it is yet to clear previous year farmers’ dues of over Rs 12 crore. Besides, post-dated cheques of over Rs 32 crore are also pending. Unhappy farmers staged a dharna outside the sugar mill today. After getting information, the Naraingarh SDM, Aditi, DSP Amit Kumar, and mill officials reached dharna site.

Farmer leader Malkeet Singh said, “The mill is going to start new crushing season from Tuesday, but previous year payment is still pending. If we were not given a concrete assurance we will not let the mill to start its crushing season.”

Mill officials said, “The mill is yet to get payment of Rs 12.19 crore from the Power Department, which is likely to come by December 31. We will also release farmers’ dues worth Rs 12.91 lakh by December 31.”

Later, farmers ended their dharna after an assurance by the SDM and mill officials.

The BKU (Charuni) spokesman, Rajiv Sharma, said, “We were assured that the previous payment will be cleared by December 5 while the new payment will start from the next day. If the mill fails to clear its dues till December 31, a mahapanchayat will be held on January 2.” — TNS