Sugarcane farmers in Uttarakhand continue to face a tough time on account of non-clearance of their dues which are running into lakhs of rupees, by different sugar mills including the public sector sugar giants.
The dues that the sugar mills owe to the cane farmers have gone upto Rs 3,27,45.09 lakh including Rs 2,70,89.38 lakh for cane crushing season 2013-14 and Rs 5,655.71 lakh for the cane crushing season of the year 2012-2013 as on January 15, 2014, as the figures provided by the office of the Cane Commissioner, Uttarakhand, suggest.
Out of the total dues worth Rs 27,089.38 lakh of the cane crushing season 2013-14, the Sitarganj cooperative sector sugar mill has to pay Rs 1,427.72 lakh, the Bazpur sugar mill of the same sector has to clear Rs 1,815.87 lakh, the Gadarpur sugar mill of the same sector has to pay Rs 1,623.33 lakh and the Nadehi cooperative sugar mill has to pay Rs 1,600.33 lakh as the figures provided by the office of the Cane Commissioner, Uttarakhand reflect.
Similarly, the public sector company, Kichha sugar mill, has to pay Rs 2,926.01 lakh and the Doiwala sugar mill of the same sector has to clear Rs 1964.66 lakh dues of the cane farmers for the current season of 2013-14. Meanwhile, the private sector libberhedi sugar mill has to pay Rs 5,066.84 lakh to cane farmers for the year 2013-14, while the Iqbalpur sugar mill belonging to the same private sector has to clear dues worth Rs 4,736.14 to the farmers and the laksar private sugar mill has to clear dues worth Rs 5,928.48 lakh to the cane farmers for this season i.e. 2013-14, according to the figures provided by office of the Cane Commissioner Uttarakhand.
Similarly, two private sugar mills including the libberhedi sugar mill and the Iqbalpur sugar mill have to clear a backlog of Rs 5,655.71 lakh i.e. Rs 3,562.92 lakh and Rs 2,092.79 lakh respectively of the previous cane crushing season-2012-2013 to the farmers. The cane crushing season had been started in the first week of December, 2013. Now it is going to be over, but delay in clearing dues on part of the sugar mills including the public sector sugar giants has worried the sugar cane farmers who were quite hopeful of timely payment under this present dispensation.
Delay in making payment to the farmers has become a routine affairs in State like Uttarakhand, said Satish Khanwal, a cane farmer here. While sugar is one of the most commonly used essential commodities, holding back the payment of the cane farmers who are heavily dependent on the sale of their produce for meeting various expenditures, only shows how the State Government has ignored the agriculture sector in the hill state, alleged Khanwal. In case the State Government continues to deal with the farmers' issue in such fashion, people like us won't have any option but to give up this conventional occupation, he maintained.