CHENNAI: Representatives of sugarcane farmers associations from across the state, on Friday, staged a demonstration seeking the intervention of Chief Minister MK Stalin in fulfilling their long-pending demands. When they tried to march towards the state secretariat holding sugarcane stalks in their hands, the police arrested them and later they were let off.
The farmers charged private sugar mills have obtained loans from nationalised banks in the name of sugarcane farmers without their knowledge, and as a result, the banks are sending notices to farmers demanding repayment of loans. They dubbed the act as a criminal offence and demanded the state government to issue a certificate to the sugarcane farmers that they did not obtain any loans so that they could be saved from legal proceedings. The sugarcane farmers have been agitating in this regard for the past 80 days.
During the demonstration, they raised slogans demanding State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane and disbursal of arrears from private sugar mills to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore. “Don’t be a mere spectator to private sugar mills cheating the sugarcane farmers; fulfill the electoral promise given for providing Rs 4,000 as the procurement price per tonne of sugarcane,” the farmers demanded. The farmers also stoutly demanded the withdrawal of revenue sharing price fixation formula for sugarcane as it would only benefit the sugar mill owners.