Farmers picket homes of MLAs for cane price hike

Ambala/Kurukshetra/Yamunanagar/Karnal: Farmers union Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Charuni) on Thursday protested outside the residences of Haryana legislators at Naraingarh in Ambala district, Shahabad Markanda in Kurukshetra district, and Jagadhri in Yamunanagar district for an increase in the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane to Rs 450 a quintal.
Meanwhile, the Karnal members of the BKU (Charuni) also tried to gherao the chief minister’s residence in Prem Nagar, but police stopped them a few meters away, where they staged a dharna on the road. Later, they burnt the effigy of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and raised slogans against the government.
The activists said if the government did not fix the SAP for sugarcane crop at Rs 450 per quintal by January 9, they will hold a panchayat in Karnal and take a strong decision.
Ajay Rana, district president of the association, said though crushing operations in all sugar mills started a month ago, the government was yet to announce the SAP for 2022-23, leading to resentment among the cane growers.
Meanwhile, the protests at Ambala, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar went on for three hours — from 11am to 1pm — outside the homes of Naraingarh’s Congress MLA Shalley, Jagadhri’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and Haryana education minister Kanwar Pal, and Shahabad Markanda’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) MLA and Haryana Sugarfed chairman Ram Karan Kala. The famers led by the district presidents of BKU (Charuni) raised slogans against the Haryana government and burnt effigies of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
BKU (Charuni) spokesman Rakesh Bains said: “The just-formed SAP review panel has no legitimacy when the state’s sugarcane board has recommended an SAP hike already. The government didn’t raise the SAP this year even when the input cost has increased. If the SAP is not hiked from Rs 362 a quintal by January 5, we will shut all the weighing scales of the state’s sugar mills for 2 hours and hold a mahapanchayat in Karnal on January 10.”
It is pertinent to mention here that earlier the activists of BKU (Tikait) had held a protest and blocked roads in front of sugar mills for one hour on December 26 over the same issue.