Set deadline to clear dues, sugar mill pays Rs 18cr to farmers

Yamunanagar: As the deadline set by the Haryana unit of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) to pay the pending dues of sugarcane growers lapsed on Thursday, the Saraswati Sugar Mill, Yamunanagar, released another Rs 18 crore to the farmers on Friday.
The farmers had warned to lock the sugar mill on Friday if the mill failed to make payments by September 27.
The mill had outstanding dues of Rs 88 crore against the sugarcane payments.Earlier on September 25, the mill had paid Rs 24 crore to the farmers after the Yamunanagar district administration intervened into the matter. The mill has now paid Rs 42 crore to the cane growers.
Now, the remaining payment of Rs 46 crore would be made by the Haryana government by October 5.
Harpal Singh Sudhal, Haryana BKU organizing secretary, said, “Today a compromise was made with the sugar mill in front of the sub-divisional magistrate and the mill transferred Rs 18 crore to the farmers’ accounts. Earlier, we had received Rs 24 crore on September 25. The rest Rs 46 crore will be paid by the Haryana government.”
Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Charuni said, “Out of pending Rs 46 crore, nearly Rs 23 crore is government subsidy and rest is the loan, which will be given to the mill by the government as financial assistance. If we do not receive the pending payment by October 5, then farmers will jam the road in front of Yamunanagar deputy commissioner’s office on October 8.”
Saraswati Sugar mill manager Dharampal said, “The pending payments will hopefully be cleared in a week as the cabinet has approved financial assistance to the sugar mill and the proceedings of giving funds to the mill are under process. So far, we have cleared the nearly Rs 500 crore in dues, and now only Rs 42 crore is pending on our sugar mill.”