A railway spokesperson said that on Thursday night it was informed that there was a call by BKU Doaba Unit to sit on a dharma to demand for a hike in MSP of sugar cane and for clearance of dues. Since this morning they have been sitting on the NH near gate S 70 near Dhanowali between Jalandhar- Chaheru section.

He said that a total of 107 trains got affected as of Saturday morning due to the protest causing a nuisance to commuters.

Railways cancelled 50 trains, diverted 18, short term 36 and some others, said railway spokesperson.

Punjab police have also diverted various routes in Jalandhar, Kartarpur and Phagwara as farmers blocked Amritsar-Jalandhar highway.

Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee had announced to start an indefinite protest from Friday across Punjab by blocking national highways and railway tracks two days back.

Following this, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced a hike of Rs. 15 per quintal in the State Agreed Price (SAP) of all sugarcane varieties for the crushing season, 2021-22.

The post Farmers protest enters second day, 107 trains get affected appeared first on Ubiq TV | English News Channel.

The statement came a day after the farmers announced to block highways, railway tracks from August 20 across the state against Punjab government for their pending dues.

Aliwal said that a provision of Rs 300 crore has been made in the budget of 2021-22 by the State Government for complete payment.

The nine cooperative sugar mills in the State have already released a sum of Rs. 486.24 crore for the year 2019-20 while during the year 2020-21, a sum of Rs. 417.33 crore out of Rs. 472.10 crore has been paid. The Finance Department has sanctioned the release of Rs. 54 crore out of the balance Rs. 54.77 crore which would be paid by the first week of September to the cane growers, he said.

Aliwal said that owing to the Union Government still withholding the export subsidy and buffer stock subsidy to the tune of Rs. 9.77 crore of the cooperative sugar mills pertaining to the year 2019-20. This explains why the concerned department is being approached and the amount is hoped to be released soon.

“The balance amount of Rs. 9.77 crore will also be credited directly into the accounts of the cane growers after the release. He also said that it would be the first time in the past many years that the due payment of the previous crushing season would be made by the first week of September,” he said.

The post Cane growers to get due payments from sugar mills in three weeks; Sugarfed Chairman appeared first on Ubiq TV | English News Channel.