BJP steps up fight for Uttar Pradesh sugarcane farmers
Party
spokesman
Vijay
Bahadur
Pathak
said
Rajnath
Singh
will
go
to
the
Bastauli-Guleriya
village
to
meet
the
family
of
cane
grower
Satya
Pal
Singh,
who
had
committed
suicide
Saturday.
The BJP announced the 'gherao' of the Cane Commissioner's Office
Accusing the Akhilesh Yadav government in the state of "failing to meet the aspirations of farmers and mortgaging their interests to private sugar mill owners", Pathak said even after the farmer's suicide, the state government did not spell out clearly how the pending payments and arrears of the cane farmers will be made.
The BJP also questioned the delay in announcing the state advisory price (SAP) for sugarcane, which hit the cane growers in a big way, and sought answers from the Samajwadi Party (SP) government on the fate of the Rs.2,318 crore in dues which the farmers are yet to get since last year.
The BJP leader also said Rs.20 per quintal has been staggered "endlessly" this season.
"This government, like its predecessor government, have turned a blind eye to the problems faced by the cane growers in the state, forcing some to take the extreme step of suicide," said Pathak.
The deceased farmer had a arrear worth Rs.50,000 on a local sugar mill from the last season and was neck deep in fresh debt for the new crop, he wrote in his suicide note.
With delay in announcing of the SAP, which farmers later slammed as inadequate and loss-making, the farmer committed suicide Saturday.
The BJP also announced the 'gherao' of the Cane Commissioner's Office in the state capital Dec 5 by the farmers wing of the party.
IANS