Haryana Government has claimed that it has cleared all the dues accruing to the 14 sugar mills in the State during the crushing season 2014-15, with the exception of one payment of `5,122.79 lakh. This sum is pending since Naraingarh Sugar Mills in Ambala has been unable to provide requisite collateral security to avail soft loans being provided by the State Government for this purpose.
State Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar, while speaking in response to a call-attention notice moved by Congress MlA Kiran Choudhry regarding non-payment of arrears to sugarcane growers in the State on the third day of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Session, said 11 cooperative sugar mills in the State had purchased 351.21 lakh quintals sugarcane worth `1,077 crore during the 2014-15 crushing season.
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 a total of 228.59 lakh quintals of sugarcane during the same season. The Haryana Government has decided to provide financial assistance to the mills, he said.
The 11 cooperative mills have made full payments to sugarcane growers with assistance from the State Government, which provided them soft loans worth `300 crore. HAFED also provided a loan amounting to `111.19 crore to Sugarfed.
A loan amounting to `100 crore was advanced to Saraswati Sugar Mills, which had purchased 142.44 lakh quintals worth `42988.16 lakh. This mill has now paid its dues in full. Similarly, the State Government provided a loan of `3.825 crore to Piccadilly Agro Industries limited, which had purchased 38.44 lakh quintals worth `11,802.71 lakh, and its payment has now been made in full.
Under a scheme notified by the Central Government, cooperative sugar mills in Haryana received financial assistance of `75.56 crore in the form of a loan, while Saraswati Sugar Mills and Piccadilly Agro Industries ltd received soft loans of `34.51 crore and `10.3836 crore, respectively.
The Minister added that up till August 30, 2015, Naraingarh Sugar Mills had made payment of `9,376.94 lakh to sugarcane growers and a sum of `5,122.79 lakh was yet to be paid.
Dhankar said that under the scheme, a proposal to provide a soft loan amounting to `45 crore to Naraingarh Sugar Mills had been sent to HARCO Bank, but the loan amount could not be disbursed as the mill had not provided requisite collateral security.
Assuring the House that the State Government was committed to getting the pending payment released by Naraingarh Sugar Mills at the earliest, Dhankar said that a three-member committee, comprising Principal Secretary Finance, Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture and Principal Secretary Cooperation, has been constituted to suggest how payment could be released to sugarcane growers, with the Naraingarh Sugar Mills unable to provide collateral security to avail the soft loan being offered by the State Government.
The Committee would also make recommendations regarding how the sugarcane of growers in the catchment area of these mills would be crushed in case the mill is not able to take up crushing in the upcoming crushing season.