Sugar mill staff fire at farmers

While the farmers continued to pelt stones at the Gulariya Sugar Mill and tried to enter its premises,the employees also threw water at the protesters to disperse them.

Lakhimpur Kheri District Magistrate (DM) Gaurav Dayal,however,said the farmer had no dues pending with the mill. A committee led by an additional district magistrate will probe into the matter,including the reported firing by sugar mill employees,he added.

The DM also sought to clarify that the bullets were fired in the air to chase away the farmers,who,he said,had gathered outside the mill to demand clearance of their dues

Dayal said none of the farmers were injured in the clash but a security guard of the sugar mill sustained injuries.

He said the deceased farmer’s body had been removed from outside the mill by his family members and they had agreed to cremate the body.

The DM said the situation was brought to normal “after the clash that lasted about half-an-hour”. He added an FIR will be lodged if any complaint is received.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Gola area Shambhu Kumar said the sugar mill,like many others in the state,has not started crushing yet and this was one of the triggers for the protest.

“However,they ended their protest in the late afternoon and the deceased farmer’s body has also been cremated,” said Kumar.

In a statement,the UP government said Satyapal Singh,43,who had hanged himself in a garden near his Bastauli village Tuesday,took the step because of illness and not because of his dues,or his wife’s or mother’s were pending with the sugar mill.

The statement added the government was working to provide Singh’s family help through the national family benefit scheme and the Chief Minister’s discretionary fund.

The DM said Singh had in his suicide note mentioned about Rs 2 lakh he had borrowed from a local bank but did not mention about any pending cane arrears.

4 pvt mills start ops,4 more face FIRs

LUCKNOW: Four more private sugar mills started crushing cane even as four more FIRs were lodged against mills in western UP on Friday,a day after the state government suspended all negotiations with sugar industry.

“Notices have also been issued to all occupiers and CMDs of sugar mills asking them to start operations by December 4 in western UP and December 7 in remaining districts or face action,” said N P Singh,Additional Sugar Commissioner.

Now,a total of 31 sugar mills,including 22 of the 24 in cooperative sector,one belonging to the Sugar Corporation at Mohiuddinpur,Meerut,and eight in private sector,are crushing cane. With the new cases filed today in Shamli and Basti districts,a total of 10 FIRs have been lodged against mill owners.