The Uttar Pradesh Government on Friday granted additional help and further concession at the rate of Rs. 6 per quintal to private sugar millswho clear the cane dues till September 2014.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting presided over by the Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav on Friday.
Failure to make the payment at the rate of the previously announced SAP (State Advised Price) of Rs. 280 per quintal before the September 31 deadline would invite strict action against the defaulter sugar mills. Principal Secretary (Sugarcane Development and Sugar Promotion), Rahul Bhatnagar said action would be taken as per the provisions of the law.
An amount of Rs. 5099 crore as cane dues of 2013-14 crushing season is pending on the private sugar mills. If the dues are cleared it would benefit about 40 lakh cane farmers in the State.
Interestingly, the State Government’s “additional help and concessions” to the private sugar mills came on a day when the UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA), the umbrella organization of 96 private mills, issued a five-page statement on “Why UP sugar are unable to make cane payments on time?”. In fact, the UPSMA has dismissed the SAP fixed by the State Government as “arbitrary pricing of cane, more of a populist measure of the Government to maintain its vote banks in the State elections”.
Demanding the adoption of a “linkage formula” (linking the SAP with the price of sugar and its by-products), the Association has warned that failure to do so would aggravate the cane arrears crisis again next year.
Giving details of the concessions granted by the government , the Principal Secretary ( Sugarcane Development ) told reporters that the fresh benefits would be in addition to the concessions given at the rate of Rs. 11.03 per quintal of cane following the December 9, 2013 cabinet decision.
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), which is leading the agitation against the non-payment of sugarcane price arrears, has threatened to intensify its stir against the sugar mills. “It is a fact that many cane growers are debt-ridden and are living in miserable condition”, Rakesh Tikait, the BKU spokesperson told The Hindu on Friday. He reiterated that the arrears have not being paid by the mills.
On Thursday, the UPSMA, which is an affiliate of Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), questioned the State Government’s move to conduct meetings related to reservation of cane arrears for the next crushing season. The first meeting of Saharanpur district is proposed to be held at Lucknow on September 10.
It has decided to boycott the meetings on the plea that it has already been decided to suspend cane crushing operations for the 2014-15 season (which starts in October-November 2014) .
