Crushing licences of 21 sugar mills in Maharashtra have been suspended and licences of three mills cancelled for their failure to make fair and remunerative price (FRP) payments to farmers for the season of 2015-16.
The government had earlier issued show-cause notices to some 80 mills in the state and had given them time till May 25.
“These are the mills that have not yet touched the 90% payment mark and therefore, action has been taken,” Maharashtra sugar commissioner Vipin Sharma said.
The mills have been given a week’s time to make payments failing which the government has threatened to issue revenue and recovery certificate (RRC) orders.
Over the last fortnight, the commissionerate had cancelled the crushing licences of the three mills located in Parbhani, Yavatmal and Bhor regions of Maharashtra after these mills failed to make the payments. Orders were issued for attachment of the mills.
Maharashtra’s crushing season ended on May 10 this year. Till date, RRC orders have been issued to some 24 mills in the state.
Sharma has warned if the millers do not make payments on time, strict action would be taken against them on May 25. These mills have been given enough time to make farmer payments, he said.
It’s been a year since the government has continued to maintain pressure on millers for making FRP payments to farmers.
As per the latest estimates, the arrear position has come down from `1,827 crore in the last fortnight to `905 crore as on date, he said, adding that Maharashtra is leading in terms of recovery of FRP as compared to other states. Around `922 crore has been collected in the last fortnight itself, he said.
Sharma said that action has been taken against 23 factories since they had been given adequate time to make payments. This season, of the 177 factories, around 16 factories have made FRP payments which are 100% or more. Eighty factories have made payments in the 90-99% region and 70 factories made payments in the 80-90% range, he said. Hereon, the commissionerate would work to ensure that the mills make more than 90% payments. The arrear position of 2014-15 has also come down to some `177 crore from the `190 crore owned by millers to farmers. The commissioner, however, admitted that it would be difficult to make recoveries since some of the mills had not crushed during the 2015-16 season.
According to senior officials, Maharashtra had a record recovery of some `2,500 crore last month from millers. The recovery rate is now 95^. As per the latest arrear report, 31 mills have made 100% FRP payments, 51 mills have made full payments barring the `45 per tonne subsidy announced by the government and 21 mills have made payments in the range of 80%.
Last month , revenue and recovery certificate (RRC) orders were issued to four mills, crushing licences of two mills were cancelled, while two licences were suspended for the season. Hearings were held for some 26 mills, of which 10 mills made payments, while two mills made marginal payments and so were given more time.
In the first week of May, the RRC orders have been issued against six mills, crushing licences of six mills were cancelled and crushing licences of another eight mills were suspended. Of the eight mills, four mills have made payments.