Phagwara farmers suspend dharna after payment assurances from admin

Farmers under the banner of Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) Thursday suspended their sit-in protest after the district administration here gave assurances to get cane dues amounting Rs 43 crore cleared from a local sugar mill.

Farmers on Wednesday had staged a dharna here to protest against the alleged delay in the clearance of sugarcane dues pending with the private sugar mill.

Phagwara sub-divisional magistrate Jai Inder Singh said that the administration would sell the properties of the sugarmill for clearing the cane dues.

We have already identified 3-4 such properties and served notices to their owners, he informed.

After the SDM's assurance, BKU (D) general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni suspended the dharna.

On Wednesday, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian had directed deputy commissioner of Kapurthala Karnail Singh to identify all properties of the Phagwara mill so that the same could be sold to make payments to the cane farmers.