UP private sugar mills carry Rs 1,700 crore farmers' arrears

Against total payables of Rs 18,000 cr in farmers' dues, combined payment by 117 mills was Rs 16,266 cr, or 90%

Uttar Pradesh sugarcane arrears for the 2015-16 crushing season stand at Rs 1,736 crore even as the state government has warned the defaulting private sugar mills of strict action in days to come.

Against the total payables of over Rs 18,000 crore pertaining to farmers’ dues, the combined payment by the total 117 mills in UP stood at a little over Rs 16,266 crore, putting the payment percentage at 90.35 percent.

Of the 117 mills, 78 mills had paid in full the requisite sugarcane State Advised Price (SAP). This includes all 24 cooperative mills and one UP State Sugarcane Corporation Limited (UPPSCL) unit in the state.

This way, all the remaining defaulting mills numbering 39 solely belong to the private sector, which collectively comprise 92 mills of the total 117 functional mills in UP.

UP cane commissioner Vipin Kumar Dwivedi said here today 11 defaulting mills had paid over 90 percent of their dues. However, there are 9 mills whose payment percentage was still under 40 per cent. He had already issued recovery certificates (RC) against these mills.

Earlier, police First Information Reports (FIR) had been lodged against big defaulters belonging to the Modi, Mawana, Simbhaoli and Rana groups under Section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act 1955. The state police had even raided the premises of the promoters of these groups, but they managed to evade arrest.

Last year, the state sugarcane payment situation was even worse with the payment percentage standing at merely 65 percent during the corresponding period of 2014-15 crushing season, Dwivedi informed.

In the next 2016-17 sugarcane crushing season, the UP cane acreage is estimated at two million hectares (LH) against 2.05 million hectares during 2015-16.