 "A farmer works in his sugarcane field")
With the state government's deadline of a month for private sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to settle their sugarcane payment dues to farmers expiring, minister in charge Suresh Rana warned of action against the defaulters.
An estimated Rs 4,000 crore of payments are still pending. "Ensuring timely and full payment to cane farmers is our top priority and there would be no dithering on this responsibility," Rana told this newspaper. He said it was the first time in UP's history that cane payments of Rs 5,200 crore had been settled in a month.
"About 25 state mills have paid their full
