The problem of sugar cane farmers at Zaheerabad is back to square one once again. The management of Trident Sugars, located on the outskirts of the revenue divisional headquarters town, has failed to clear the arrears of about ₹ 12.74 crore for about 1,200 farmers for the past two years.
Finance Minister T. Harish Rao had held two meetings with farmers and representatives of the factory management in the recent past. In the first meeting held at Collectorate, it was decided to go for auction of assets of the factory. It was also decided to divert the sugar grown by the farmers to other factories at Sangareddy and Margi in Kamareddy district.
In the second meeting held at MCHRD at Hyderabad, Mr. Harish Rao gave ample time to the management to pay arrears to farmers. They were directed to pay the arrears amounting to about ₹ 13 crore including wages to the staff in two instalments – ₹ 5 crore on November 11 and ₹ 8 crore on November 18 – and the representatives of the factory who attended the meeting promised to keep their word.
Officials are not sure whether the factory management could keep the promise for second instalment as it has failed in releasing the first instalment amount.
“The small farmers are at the receiving end and they are unable to perform some family functions as their amount was stuck with the factory management for the past two years. We do not know when they receive the amount but surely not in the near future as recovery will take time under Revenue Recovery (RR) Act,” said M Panduranga Reddy, a sugar cane farmer from Zaheerabad. He said that the recent auction of movable assets by revenue officials had fetched about ₹ 3 lakh.
“The movable assets have to be auctioned first followed by machinery and land as per RR Act. As the movable assets were auctioned we are proceeding for the second step. Our intention, including that of the Minister, is not to trouble the management as it would harm the interest of farmers in the long run. But what can we do when the management repeatedly fails to keep its word?” asked an officer on condition of anonymity.
