THANJAVUR: Monday marked the 1000th day of continuous protest by farmers who supplied sugarcane to the Tiru Arooran Sugar Mills at Tirumandangudi, demanding action all those, including the erstwhile management of the mill, who took loans in the name of farmers prior to 2019 when the mill was closed.
Since then, farmers have been staging protests in front of the private sugar mill. On Monday, a group of farmers tried to stage a protest near the Kumbakonam court complex. As there was no permission to protest at the place, the farmers were stopped by police personnel and an altercation ensued.
Following this, the police detained 12 farmers and lodged them in a marriage hall. Meanwhile, another group of farmers staged a protest near the Bhakthapuri traffic island located near the court complex. They raised slogans that the loan amount in the name, which was availed by the erstwhile management, needed to be written off so that they could avail fresh loan.
They also demanded an inquiry by the CBI to investigate the fraud perpetrated against the farmers. The protesters also demanded early disposal of the case filed by the farmers in this regard. The protesters also raised slogans against the state government for not taking action to concede the demands of the farmers affected by the erstwhile management of the private sugar mills.
T Kasinathan, president of the sugarcane farmers association, led the protest. The Tiru Arooran Sugar Mills at Tirumandangudi was closed in 2019 by the erstwhile management and the farmers who supplied sugarcane before that were not given arrears with interest by the management. The erstwhile management had also taken loans to the tune of several hundred crores of rupees in the name of the farmers, and defaulted.
After a new management took over the mill in 2022, the arrears for sugarcane supplied by farmers was settled in a phased manner without interest. However the loans taken by the erstwhile management are still shown as due by farmers affecting their CIBIL score.