Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are yet to pay more than Rs. 8,000 crore to cane farmers. According to the State Cane Development department data, the mills are yet to pay Rs. 8,108.94 crore to the farmers after buying their cane till April 4. This has led to a series of protests by farmers.

 

On Tuesday, a large number of farmers took to the streets in Shamli demanding their dues. Shamli is the constituency of State’s Cane Development Minister Suresh Rana.

 

The protesters, led by former member of Uttar Pradesh State Planning Commission Sudhir Panwar, demanded timely payment of the arrears and rollback of the increase in the electricity rates.

 

“The Yogi Adityanath government took votes of farmers on the promise that it will ensure payment of cane dues within two weeks. However, the tragedy is that the farmers are still waiting,” Dr. Panwar, a farm expert, said.

 

Biggest defaulters

 

The sugar mills in and around the constituency of Mr. Rana are the biggest defaulters.

 

While the mills in Shamli owe Rs. 432.84 crore, those in Saharanpur Rs. 415.36 crore and in Muzaffarnagar Rs. 373.58 crore, as per the data.

 

Deepak Guptara, secretary of the U.P. Sugar Mills Association, said the decreasing rates of sugar had affected the paying capacity of the mills. “The total investment in the production of one quintal of sugar is at least Rs. 3,450. The rate of sugar has gone down to Rs. 2,920, which means we are bearing a loss of at least Rs. 530/quintal,” he said.