Agitated over their unmet demands, a group of aggrieved subabul and eucalyptus farmers led by BJP Kisan Morcha laid a siege to the ITC Paperboards & Specialty Papers Division (PSPD) unit at Sarapaka in Burgampadu mandal on Thursday.
Tension prevailed at the main gate of the PSPD unit when the demonstrators tried to barge into the paper mill in pursuit of their demands, sources said. The BJP Kisan Morcha State president K Sridhar Reddy along with the BJP Khammam district president G Satyanarayana and Bhadradri-Kothagudem district president K Satyanarayana squatted in front of the entrance gate of the paper mill in support of the agitated farmers.
Addressing the demonstration, Mr Sridhar Reddy charged the paper mill management with failing to abide by the agreement it reached with the farmers’ organisations on April 4, 2018. He alleged that the paper mill management was depriving the subabul and eucalyptus farmers of the assured mill landed price of ₹ 4,500 per tonne.
He further alleged that the officials of the company failed to comply with the timeframe set in a meeting recently conducted by the district administration in Khammam to resolve the charter of demands of the subabul and eucalyptus farmers.
Tense situation persisted at the entrance of the paper mill as the demonstrators continued their sit-in protest refusing to hold any more talks with the company officials demanding immediate resolution of the demands of the farmers.
The police whisked away the demonstrators to the Burgampadu police station. The demonstrators were let off later.
