Demanding that the government and sugar mills implement a deal signed with them in the first week of January this year, sugarcane farmers from various districts of southern Nepal have launched a protest in Kathmandu on Sunday.

The farmers had launched a demonstration at Maitighar Mandala of Kathmandu in December last year for several days demanding the sugar mills pay them outstanding bills on time. The agitation had ended in a five-point agreement, in which the government had agreed to coordinate efforts to make industrialists clear all dues within January 21.

However, one year later, the farmers came back to the capital claiming the government and the industrialists cheated them. They launched a sit-in at Maitighar Mandala today, warning they would picket Singhadarbar, the government’s sit, and the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar.

As per the government records, four major sugar mills of the country–Shreeram, Indira, Lumbini, and Annapurna–have yet to pay more than Rs 520 million to the farmers in total.