“No concrete efforts have been made to force the mill management to clear outstanding dues. We will lift our protest only after the farmers are paid their dues,” he said.

 

The outfit’s general secretary Satnam Singh Sahni accused the district administration of dilly-dallying on the issue of auctioning the properties of the mill owners.

 

The protesting farmers demanded the registration of a cheating case against the mill owner.

 

On August 21, taking note of the non-payment of dues to sugarcane growers by Wahid-Sandhar Sugar Mills, the district administration issued a notice to the mill to vacate the properties attached by the office of SDM, Phagwara, in 2021.

 

The notice stipulated that the auction process of these properties will initiated shortly so that the said properties measuring 10 kanal 12 marlas and 07 kanal 06 marlas, including a kothi should be vacated at the earliest.

 

On September 17, a seven-member price fixation committee under deputy commissioner Captain Karnail Singh was constituted to initiate the process of auctioning.

 

Kapurthala DC said Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian has called some sugarcane farmers for a meeting on Thursday regarding this matter.