Police held members of farmer outfits for joining cane ryots’ protest

TIRUCHY: Members from various farmers associations who joined the protest in support of the sugarcane farmers were arrested in Thanjavur on Saturday.

The sugarcane farmers from Thanjavur, who are yet to receive the pending dues from Thiru Arooran Sugars Limited, are in the relay protest for the past 11 days.

The farmers claimed that the factory administration had obtained loans in the name of the farmers but they were not repaid properly and so the banks had started to torture farmers to repay the loans.

The protesting farmers who have been demanding the disbursal of the pending dues have also been demanding to transfer the pending loans to the factory administration.

Despite the farmers’ continuous protests, the factory administration has been maintaining silence.

In such a backdrop, members from various farmers associations joined the protest on Saturday.

This apart, the members organised protest at various places, including Thanjavur town, Pattukkottai and Kumbakonam.

The protesting farmers demanded Chief Minister MK Stalin to immediately intervene into the issue and find a solution to the problem. “The unusual silence from the factory administration even after 11 days of protest, has been creating a suspicion among the farmers,” said Tamil Nadu Farmers Association district secretary P Senthil Kumar who led the protest in Thanjavur town. He also charged that the police are denying permission to stage a protest against the factory administration.

“We are fighting for our rights and a protest in a democratic way should not be stopped by the police and this will trigger more such protests,” he warned.