Lucknow: In an order that will benefit more than 40 lakh farmers in Uttar Pradesh, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has ruled that none of the nationalised banks or financial institutions that have advanced loans to the state’s sugarcane farmers should take any coercive step or issue recovery notices for recovering outstanding agricultural loans from farmers whose cane payments have not been cleared by the over 100 sugar factories in the state.

Passing an interim order on a PIL filed by Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS), the court has directed the sugar mills to pay cane dues as well as the accumulated interest to the farmers within 15 days or face recovery notices from the state government.

RKMS convenor VM Singh said the order was a big relief for the farmers, most of whom had taken agricultural loans to till their fields but were not being paid their dues by the millers even four months after the crushing season had ended. “The mills are yet to clear their arrears, owing to which these poor farmers are not able to repay their loans. It is in such circumstances that the farmers are forced to take extreme steps after the lending agencies start recovery proceedings and take coercive steps,” he said.