Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar on Tuesday claimed that most of the dues accruing to the 14 sugar mills in the State, including 11 cooperative and three private sugar mills, have been paid and the balance would be paid-off within the next few days.
The Agriculture Minister said that 11 cooperative sugar mills had purchased sugarcane worth Rs 1,077crore during the 2014-15 crushing season. Of this amount payments of more than Rs 1,022 crore have already been made to the farmers.
He said that three private mills in the State namely Saraswati Sugar Mills, Yamunanagar, Piccadilly Agro Industries limited, Bhadson in district Karnal, and Naraingarh Sugar Mills, Naraingarh in district Ambala, had purchased sugarcane worth Rs 692 crore, of which they have already paid more than Rs 631 crore to the farmers.
Keeping in view the demands of sugar mills and the interests of the farmers, the Haryana Government has in an unprecedented measure made soft loans available to these mills, he said. The present Government has arranged more than Rs 190 crore in order to clear dues for sugarcane purchased during the previous 2013-14 season, Dhankar added.
The Agriculture Minister said that overall during the 2014-15 crushing season, all 14 sugar mills in the State had purchased sugarcane worth Rs 1,77,084.36 lakh, of which Rs 1,65,342.47 lakh had already been paid to the farmers by August 24, 2015.