Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh: Farmers affiliated with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)–Tikait faction continued their sit-in protest outside Ganna Bhawan in Meerut’s Civil Lines area on Sunday, as their agitation entered the seventh day. The protest is centred on the non-payment of sugarcane arrears and alleged irregularities in the purchase of cane, reports The Times of India.
BKU national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait cautioned that the agitation would be stepped up if the government failed to respond to the farmers’ demands. Speaking to protesters, he said sustained demonstrations were essential to safeguard farmers’ rights, stressing that meaningful results could only be achieved through continuous protest, even if it meant staying at protest sites overnight.
Tikait said that despite owning farmland, cultivators had no say in deciding the prices of their produce. He alleged that the government was following a double standard by restricting the movement of old tractors in the name of pollution control while allowing government trucks to operate round the clock in cities. He warned that, as part of the agitation, trucks entering Muzaffarnagar and other cities could be stopped. He said farmers would first seek a meeting with the chief minister, but if their issues remained unresolved, a large protest would be organised in Lucknow. He also announced that a separate movement would be launched to safeguard the Aravali hills.
As part of the demonstration, farmers put up a 15-foot-long sugarcane stalk, named “Benami Badshah,” burned sugarcane outside the gate of Ganna Bhawan and raised slogans. Their key demands included immediate payment of dues by the Kinauni sugar mill, uniform functioning of all six sugar mills in the region, and withdrawal of the recent 15 paise per quintal increase in transportation charges.
Earlier, BKU district president Anurag Chaudhary alleged corruption and irregular practices by sugarcane department officials and sugar mills in five societies and mills across western Uttar Pradesh. He claimed that at Mohiuddinpur and Mawana mills, weight norms were being violated by deducting two per cent during cane weighing. He also alleged that some sugarcane varieties earlier advised to farmers were now being refused by the mills.
