Thanjavur: A group of aggrieved sugarcane farmers created a flutter today by boiling gruel in front of the Arignar Anna sugar mill, a public sector undertaking (PSU), at Kurungulam near here condemning the PSU administration for the inordinate delay in the disbursal of the outstanding amount to the tune of Rs 22 crore owed to them for the supply of sugarcane during the year 2015-2016.

Holding earthen pots and plates, and smearing holy ash on their foreheads to symbolically indicate that they had been cheated, the farmers boiled gruel in full public view and then distributed it to all in the area.

Led by Sugarcane Producers Association President R Ramasamy, the agitating farmers staged a slogan-shouting demonstration urging the sugar mill administration to immediately disburse the outstanding amount owed by it to the farmers.

“The farmers had supplied sugarcane at the rate of Rs 2,750 per ton to the sugar mill during the year 2015-2016. But the sugar mill administration has paid only Rs 2000 per ton. The PSU still owes an outstanding of Rs 22 crore to the farmers for the supply of sugarcane,” Ramasamy said.

The sugar mill has not paid the outstanding amount to the farmers despite various agitations, he added, and warned that if it did not do so immediately, the sugarcane farmers would hoist black flags atop their houses on the day of Diwali festival and observe it as a black day.