Cane farmers defer highway, rail blockade
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Sugarcane farmers from across the region, who had announced to stop the traffic on the national highway between Jalandhar and Phagwara and the rail traffic near Dhanowali on Friday, have deferred their plan by four days. The farmers had given an ultimatum in this regard to the government, seeking hike in sugarcane State Advised Price (SAP), release of pending payments from sugar mills and announcement of the cane crushing season in the mills.
The decision was announced after Bharatiya Kisan Union (Doaba) president Manjit S Rai and Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee president Balwinder S Malli Nangal met Secretary, Agriculture, Arshdeep S Thind, and Cane Commissioner, Punjab, Amrik Singh, in Chandigarh this evening.
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Rai said the government officials sought time from them till November 24. "They have given us an assurance that they will hold a meeting on Monday and finalise the SAP and the dates for the start of the cane crushing season. Once they communicate their decision to us after concluding their meeting, we will announce our plan," said Rai in a video message that he released after the meeting.
Nangal, who also attended the meeting, said, "We have been assured that all pending payments of the cane farmers from the sugar mills would be released at the earliest."
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