Hundreds of farmers in Uttar Pradesh have committed suicide in the last three months after the unseasonal rain and hailstorm destroyed their crops worth more than Rs. 2000 crore. But another reason for their suicide is that they are yet to get more than Rs. 6000 crore which the country’s top corporates owe them in the form of sugarcane payment arrears for this year alone.
The top corporates which owe the State’s farmers money are Bajaj, Birla, Modi group and the liquor baron Ponty Chaddha-led Wave group. These private defaulters which own 40 of the total 103 sugarcane mills, left the farmers in a state of crisis.
According to an Uttar Pradesh Cane Development department document accessed by The Hindu the figures of arrears the industrialists owe to the State farmers are the highest in the country.
The top defaulter in the list is Bajaj group which is yet to pay Rs. 1598 crore to the farmers. The Mawana group which owns three mills in the State is defaulting on the payment of Rs. 524 crore.
While Birla, which owns five mills, has not paid Rs. 376.5 crore, the Modi group which has two sugar mills owes Rs. 406 crore to the farmers. The Yadu group which is owned by U.P. strongman D.P. Yadav is defaulting on payment of Rs. 50 crore. The Dalmiya group which owns three mills is yet to pay Rs. 94.3 crore. There are 20 more people with smaller defaulting amount in the list
Senior officials of the Cane Development department told The Hindu that the officials will soon initiate action against the top defaulters.
One senior office-bearer of the Sugar Mill Owners Association said, on condition of anonymity, that the “government needs to seriously look at the crisis in the sugar industry and reward those who pay the farmers even in this crisis.”
