Members of Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association, supported by few other organisations, staged a road roko here on Thursday condemning the State government for non-clearance of dues of around ₹ 212 crore to farmers and introducing revenue-sharing formula for paying sugarcane farmers.
Raising slogans against the government for years of alleged delay in settling the dues, the association said that the ₹ 212 crore was owed by public sector and cooperative sugar mills alone. “The underpayment by private sugar mills is another story altogether,” said N. Palanichamy, State president of the association.
The association said that, of the ₹ 212 crore, the National Cooperative Sugar Mills in Alanganallur alone owed up to ₹ 20 crore. “While the State government did not even bother to announce the State Advised Price (SAP) for this season, the mill has not even managed to pay the Central government’s Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of ₹ 2,550 to all the farmers,” Mr. Palanichamy alleged.
According to the association, the pending dues included payment of share from the profits for the year 2009, which has not been done despite an order by the Madras High Court.
“When we staged a protest in front of the Chief Minister’s house in March, we were assured that the pending amount will be paid in 20 days. However, nothing has happened since then,” he said.
The protesters also raised strong objections to the introduction of revenue sharing formula as per recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee, which according to them will bring down the remuneration they get by at least ₹ 300 per tonne.
Arguing that the State government had chosen to do away with the SAP and instead opted for revenue sharing formula, the association said that the formula had not been accepted even in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
Stating that the option of sharing 70% of the sold value of sugar, molasses and other products with farmers as per the revenue sharing formula would end up benefiting the mill owners and affecting the farmers, the protesters demanded immediate withdrawal of the announcement. “Instead, the government must announce an SAP of ₹ 4,000 for 2017-18,” Mr. Palanichamy said.
