Bajwa to go on fast-unto-death if cane crushing not started by November

Hoshiarpur: Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday threatened to sit on a fast-unto-death from 16 November in Chandigarh if sugar mills did not start cane crushing by then. Bajwa addressed a dharna in front of the sugar mill here and demanded that the state government evolve a policy to give subsidies to farmers and sugar mills. [caption id=“attachment_2413026” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Partap Singh Bajwa. Image Credit: Twitter[/caption] Punjab Congress has launched a state-wide protest demanding a CBI probe against private sugar mills for not clearing cane growers’ dues. They have also asked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to call a emergency session of the Assembly over the “deep agrarian crisis” and lead an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “to take up issues of the farmers leading to increasing incidents of suicides”. Bajwa today gave an ultimatum till November 15 to the government to accept the farmers’ demands. He said the amount paid to sugarcane farmers in Punjab was “much less” as compared to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He also demanded that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre announce a package of at least Rs 51000 crore for Punjab farmers to offset their debt liability. PTI