Talks fail, sugarcane farmers to continue stir
The three-hour meeting was attended by farmers’ association functionaries, elected representatives, government officials and officials from the factory
Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi chairs the meeting on Friday
TIRUCHY: With Friday’s tripartite meeting chaired by minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi failing to thrash out an amicable solution, sugarcane farmers announced that their protest demanding arrears from the Thanjavur Thirumandangudi sugar factory would continue.
The three-hour meeting was attended by farmers’ association functionaries, elected representatives, government officials and officials from the factory. While the farmers stood their ground on the demand for settlement of dues and repayment of loans obtained in the names of farmers by the factory, the factory administration said that they could settle 57 per cent of the total arrears. However, the minister, MPs, District collector Deepak Jacob and the farmer representatives insisted the factory officials to settle the entire pending amount. Following this, the factory officials promised to clear 75 per cent of the dues within 10 days.
“Even after the minister, MPs and the collector went insisting the factory officials to repay the loans obtained in the name of farmers and settle the entire dues as the waiting period had gone too far, the factory administration was not ready to accept it. So, we have decided to continue the protest in front of the factory,” said Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association General Secretary Ravindran and Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association Secretary Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan. Farmers from across the region had send their sugarcane for crushing at the Thiru Arooran Sugar factory at Thirumandangudi near Papanasamn. But, the factory administration failed to disburse the money for the period between 2016 and 2018. The factory administration had also not fixed any pricing for sugarcane.
Apart from this, the factory had obtained loans to the tune of Rs 300 crore in the names of the farmers without informing latter and failed to repay the loans, which forced the bank officials to approach the concerned farmers for repayment. Subsequently, the factory administration decided to close the factory owing to heavy loss.
It may be pointed out that the protest by farmers had already crossed 350 days.