UP: Farmers Attempt Mass Suicide Over Pending Sugarcane Dues, Cops Resort to Lathicharge
The protesting farmers attempted self-immolation near Bijnor district magistrate's office.
Bijnor, February 4: The Uttar Pradesh police had to resort to lathicharge after farmers under the banner of Azad Kisan Union attempted mass suicide on Monday over pending dues for sugarcane. The protesting farmers attempted self-immolation near Bijnor district magistrate's office. To prevent them from immolating themselves, the police resorted to lathicharge and used water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Rajendra Singh, the national convener of Azad Kisan Union, and seven other protesters were detained following the mass suicide attempt. The pro-farmer outfit has been demanding the release of dues of Rs 824 crore. Out of this amount, Rs 62 crore pertains to the previous year. The outfit had threatened mass suicide by farmers if the dues were not paid by Monday.
Following the call for protest, hundreds of farmers gathered at the premises of sugarcane development society on Monday. As soon as the first farmer lit his own blanket for mass immolation, cops intervened and resorted to lathicharge after heated arguments with agitating farmers. Some protesters entered the society to save themselves from police action, but they were later chased and thrashed by cops.
District Magistrate Atal Rai, however, said no lathicharge was ordered, adding that majority of sugarcane mills have cleared dues. "There are nine sugar mills here in the district. Out of these, two mills belonging to Wave Group did not clear the dues of previous year while rest have paid the dues of last year and they are doing new payment also. We had already filed an FIR against the mill authorities for not paying dues," Rai was quoted as saying.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 04, 2019 08:12 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).