LUCKNOW: Following large-scale agitations by sugarcane farmers across the state, the UP government has assured them that it will take stringent steps to protect farmers' interests. The move follows a sit-in organised outside the cane commissioner's office on Tuesday this week, after which the government has now agreed to issue recovery notices against any sugar mill that does not settle cane arrears within the next 15 days. With farm payments delayed by nearly six months, the government, in a significant move to pacify and placate, has also said that no punitive action will be taken against any sugarcane farmers who have loans pending against them.
According to the state's own estimate, there are, more than 40 lakh small and big sugarcane farmers in UP. As the biggest producer of sugarcane in the country, UP has 125 operational sugar mills and 168 UP Cooperative Cane Development Societies. So far, only 15 factories out of 125 have settled their dues.
In yet another move to mollify agitating farmers, many of who threatened to lift sugar stocks if their dues were not paid, the government has also said that a farmer delegation will be allowed to voice its grievances before CM between August 7 and August 12.
Tuesday's sit-in in Lucknow followed a string of similar protests by sugarcane farmers to galvanise the Samajwadi Party government into action. President of Kisan Jagriti Manch, Sudhir Panwar, said, "Sugar mill owners have been demanding several policy concessions from the state government, including rebate on molasses quota and exemption of purchase taxes, among others thing in lieu of settling these payments. They also want to pressurise the state government into turning down demands for hiking fair and remunerative prices by sugarcane farmers."
Apart from demanding policy concessions, sugar mill owners have also been demanding settlement of electricity dues from the state government. So far, the state has only settled around Rs 100 crore of the total Rs 600 crore that it owes to sugar mills as electricity dues.
Till last week, the non-payment of dues was threatening to assume political overtones, with many farmer groups suggesting that the SP government had failed to protect farmers' interests despite calling them their "biggest vote bank". Earlier, the Supreme Court had ordered the UP government and sugar millers to settle cane arrears in three instalments - on May 7, June 7 and July 7 - to sugarcane farmers. tnnThe court also ruled that if the government and private mills failed to settle the arrears by July 7, 2012, the remaining amount would attract an additional interest of 16%. It has been nearly a month since the deadline, yet the farmers still have outstanding dues of nearly Rs 1,600 crore.