Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, July 5

Fed up with the non-release of his payment, a farmer ploughed his sugarcane crop on 4 acres in Hathan village of the district on Monday.

More cane growers will follow the suit as they alleged that they had not received their payments from the Dhuri sugar mill. Meanwhile, the area under sugarcane has reduced from around 15,000 acres in 2017 to 6,000 acres at present.

“Till three years back, I had been sowing surgarcane on over 20 acres but this year, I covered only 4 acres. I have been compelled to plough my entire crop. If the Punjab Government is serious about promoting crop diversification, it should release our payment on time,” said Kamaljit Singh from Hathan village.

Many other cane growers also have similar woes as they said they are also planning to plough their crop. Many said they had decided to restart paddy transplantation, which gives assured income with lesser hard work than sugarcane.

“Till a few years ago, our family had been sowing sugarcane on 30 to 35 acres, but now I have the crop only on 3 acres. Every year, we have to launch an agitation for our payments and todate, many farmers are awaiting the release of around Rs 4.67 crore from the Dhuri sugar mill authorities,” said Avtar Singh Tari, a leader of Cane Growers’ Struggle Committee.

Sangrur Chief Agriculture Officer Jaswinderpal Singh Grewal said: “The area under sugarcane has been reducing in the district. We’ve been trying our best to ensure the release of Rs 4.67 crore dues of sugarcane growers at the earliest.”