Farmers who held up SDM in office for 30 hours booked

PATIALA: The Sangrur police on Friday registered a case against farmers for holding up Dhuri SDM Satwant Singh and other staffers in the office for over 30 hours while protesting against the delay in the release of sugarcane dues by a private sugar mill.

The action was initiated after three employee bodies - PCS executive officers' association of Punjab, state revenue officers' association and Punjab state DC office employees' association - threatened to go on a pen-down strike.

The farmers had been at loggerheads with the management of Bhagwanpura Sugar Mill, Dhuri, seeking release of their sugarcane dues. The farmers had been holding a protest outside the mill and on March 25, they assembled outside the SDM office at Dhuri and blocked all entry and exit points, disallowing the staffers to leave the office for over 30-hours.

Deputy commissioner Gyansham Thori said a DDR had been filed on March 26, which was converted into an FIR on Friday. While four farmers have been named in the police report, the rest are yet to be identified.

He said along with Sangrur SSP, he would meet the DGP and chief minister's secretary on Monday and will apprise them of the present situation.