Uttar Pradesh : Sugarcane Farmers In Western UP Await Dues
Sugarcane farmers in western Uttar Pradesh await ₹4,000 crore in pending dues from sugar mills, mainly private ones like Bajaj Group. Despite court orders mandating timely payments with interest, delays persist. Farmers criticize the government and demand adherence to the 14-day payment rule. Officials cite cash credit issues but assure efforts to clear dues before the next harvest.
Meerut: Sugarcane farmers of Uttar Pradesh, particularly the western districts, are awaiting their pending dues from the sugar mills even as the political parties air their support to them.
Around 46 lakh sugarcane farmers are to be paid thousands of crores by these sugar mills. Although sugarcane is produced throughout the state, the top producers are Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat and Ghaziabad.
These farmers often dominate the political narrative and sugarcane remains a hot topic in almost all the farmer movements in the state. But the plight of sugarcane farmers has remained the same where they have not failed to deliver the sugarcane to the mills on time while their wait for the payments are prolonged.
There are 122 sugar mills in the state that have procured sugarcane worth Rs 35,000 crores in the harvest season. While the farmers have been paid 88.38% of the dues, the payment to the tune of Rs 4,000 crores is still remaining to be paid. Along with this are the dues of the previous seasons which together amount to a huge figure.
Among the mills, it is the private ones that have the maximum pending payments to make. In the current season, 12.5% of the payment remains to be done by them, while the figure for the dues for the corporation mills is 2.5% and the cooperative mills is almost 7%.
Among the private mills, it is the Bajaj Group with 14 mills that has to pay Rs 2,300 crores as pending dues while Kesar, Modi, Oswal and Yadu Groups also have a substantial pending amount to be paid.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told ETV Bharat, “The condition of the farmers will improve when they get their payments on time. The mills delayed their payments before and are still doing the same.”
Stating that the situation has improved, he said that the government should not forget its promises and pay the more than 20% that is due within the next fortnight.
Meanwhile, farmer leader Rohit Jakhar expressed regret that there is no one to address the concerns of the sugarcane farmers. “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had promised to make the payments to them within 14 days of coming to power yet the payments are delayed. The minister of state for sugar comes from Lakhimpur Khiri but even there the scene is the same,” he said.
He claimed that the farmers are to receive pending dues worth Rs 10,000 crores.
It was disclosed that there is a court order saying that the mills in profit have to pay an interest of 9% on the pending dues while those in losses have to pay 7% interest. Jakhar claimed that all this remains on paper.
There is anger over the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) that used to take up the issue joining hands with the ruling dispensation. Party leader Rajkumar Sangwan said that the central government is working towards economic empowerment of the farmers.
However, Deputy Sugarcane Commissioner at Meerut Rajiv Rai said, “In Meerut district alone there has been an increase of 36000 farmers.”
The officials claim that the scenario has improved as compared to the past but the problem persists because of the many mills not having cash credit limits. Efforts are on to pay the dues at the earliest to the farmers.
Senior Vice President of Bajaj Sugar Mill KP Singh said, “Efforts are on to pay the entire dues before the next harvest.”
Meanwhile, Sugarcane Commissioner Pramod Kumar Upadhyay said that legal action has also been taken against some of the mills.
Raising some pertinent points, farmer leader Pavit Malik asked why the High Court orders on payment to the farmers within 14 days of procurement are not being implemented.
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Source : Etv Bharat
