Sugarcane growers stage demonstration before Bagaha SDM office

Speed Post News Network

Bagaha : Sugarcane growers of Bagaha Sub-Division in West Champaran district on December 10, 2018, registered their strong protest over the delay in the announcement of sugarcane price for the current season by Bihar Government and staged demonstration before the SDM office, Bagaha.

Tirupati Sugars Ltd, Bagaha, which is running since the first week of November 2018, has crushed over 22 lakh quintals of sugarcane but has not paid the sugarcane price to the farmers on the ground that the state government was yet to announce the price for the current season. The Tirupati Sugars Ltd, Bagaha, owes about Rs 96 crore to the cane growers for the current season. Sugarcane is a commercial crop and requires huge investment by the part of farmers, whose produce is mainly purchased by the sugar factories. The farmers are reeling under debt.

General Manager( Personnel) Tirupati Sugars Ltd, Bagaha, Y S Bhatnagar, says,” The cane price has not been fixed so far by the state government. Nobody asks Bihar Government. The sugar factories are not at fault with at all.”

Many cane growers of Bagaha including Daya Shankar Singh, Pranit Singh, Somesh Pandey, Umesh Patel, and Surendra Baitha lashed out at the state government for providing sugar factories with an opportunity to neglect the interests of cane growers. They alleged that the state government was acting at the behest of sugar lobby and not fixing state advisory price (SAP) for sugarcane. “We are being forced to borrow money at high interest rate for continuing cultivation and meeting household needs,” they said.

A delegation of cane growers handed over a memorandum to Executive Magistrate, Bagaha, Prakash Sinha, in the absence of SDM, Bagaha, on December 10,2018, demanding immediate announcement of sugarcane price and order for payment to the cane growers. The copies of the memorandum have been sent to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Sugarcane Development Commissioner, DM, West Champaran.