Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Yogi Adityanath Government in UP plans to extend Rs 4,000 crore of soft loan to sugar mills to help them clear sugarcane farmers’ dues, which stand at about Rs 4,700 crore currently. “Out of the total dues, last season’s cane arrear has come down to Rs 1,700 crore. This season’s dues till December are about Rs 3,000 crore. We have kept a target for sugar mills to clear the dues in a speedy manner,” Uttar Pradesh Cane Development Minister Suresh Rana said on the sidelines of an event pertaining to Kumbh Mela at the national Capital.
Earlier, attacking the Centre over alleged farm distress, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday said the BJP Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have not given dues of Rs 11,000 crore to sugarcane farmers, but Rs 30,000 crore was “put in the pocket” of a big businessman. “Just imagine, on one hand the farmer grows sugarcane with his hard work throughout the year, takes it to sugar mill. But when the farmer asks for remuneration for his hard work, the BJP Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra do not give Rs 11,000 crore dues to sugarcane farmers,” Gandhi said in a Facebook post.
The UP Government provided a soft loan worth Rs 4,000 crore in the last season (October-September) when the cane arrear was as high as Rs 34,400 crore. The loan was provided at five per cent interest rate of sugar mills.
“Farmers are on the priority list of the Government. If mills want to avail the soft loan, we will extend it, provided they keep ready the matching grant,” Rana said. The Minister said that out of the Rs 4,000 crore worth of soft loan, about Rs 1,700 crore was disbursed to sugar mills so far. The loan instalment started from July 2018 and repayment will begin from July this year.