Punjab Congress’ legislators dharna in front of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s official residence paid off on Sunday with the State Government announcing to clear outstanding arrears to the tune of Rs148.50 crore to sugarcane farmers for crushing season 2013-14 “positively” within a week.
Besides, the Chief Minister has also ordered the State Social Security and Welfare departments to clear all pending payments on account of financial assistance under the various social security and welfare schemes running in the State.This is not all! To ensure that similar situation does not arise in future and sugarcane growers get their payment on time, Chief Minister has also asked the State Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner, Finance, to ensure “instant payment” of sugarcane in future to the farmers as in the case of wheat and paddy.
Farmers growing wheat and paddy get their payment within 48 to 72 hours of their stocks being purchased by Government agencies.
It may be recalled that the State congress MlAs on Monday last week had organised a protest outside Chief Minister’s residence and handed over a list of memorandum to Badal demanding payment of sugarcane arrears to the farmers, withdrawal of property tax, and release of payment under various social welfare scheme, among others.
Badal acted upon two major demands of the Congress and has asked the concerned authorities to clear outstanding arrears of the sugarcane farmers, besides issuing directions to the secretaries of Social Security and Welfare departments to ensure prompt release of arrears to the beneficiaries.Out of Rs464 crore on account of total cost of sugarcane purchased by the State cooperative mills, Rs250.50 crore had already been cleared by these mills and
Rs38 crore had been paid by the State Government from its treasury besides, Rs27 crore by the State Cooperative Bank under the Union Government’s interest free loan scheme of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).Now, the balance amount of Rs148.50 crore would be cleared by the State Government within a week on the directives of Chief Minister.
