Haryana govt clears sugarcane arrears

The Haryana government has cleared all the dues accruing to the 14 sugar mills in the state during the crushing season 2014-15, with the exception of one payment of Rs 51 crore, the state Assembly was informed today.
This sum is pending since Naraingarh Sugar Mills in Ambala has been unable to provide requisite collateral security to avail soft loans being provided by the state government for this purpose, said Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar while speaking in response to a call-attention notice moved by Congress MLA Kiran Choudhry regarding non-payment of arrears to sugarcane growers in the state.
Dhankar said 11 cooperative sugar mills in the state had purchased 351.21 lakh quintals of sugarcane worth Rs 1,077 crore during the 2014-15 crushing season.

Three private mills in the state -- Saraswati Sugar Mills, Yamunanagar, Piccadilly Agro Industries Limited, Bhadson in district Karnal, and Naraingarh Sugar Mills, Naraingarh in district Ambala -- had purchased a total of 228.59 lakh quintals of sugarcane during the same season.
However, as the sugar mills were not in a position to pay sugarcane growers due to steep fall in prices of sugar at national and international level and only 8.5 per cent to nine per cent recovery of sugar from sugarcane, the Haryana government decided to provide financial assistance to the mills, he said.
The 11 cooperative mills have made full payments to sugarcane growers with assistance from the state government, which provided them soft loans worth Rs 300 crore.

Assuring the House that the state government is committed to getting the pending payment released by Naraingarh Sugar Mills at the earliest, Dhankar said that a three-member committee, comprising Principal Secretary Finance, Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture and Principal Secretary Cooperation, has been constituted.
It would suggest how payment could be released to sugarcane growers, with the Naraingarh Sugar Mills unable to provide collateral security to avail the soft loan being offered by the state government.
The Committee would also make recommendations regarding how the sugarcane of growers in the catchment area of these mills would be crushed in case the mill is not able to take up crushing in the upcoming crushing season.