Ram Vilas Paswan wants timely payment for cane crushers

With the onset of the cane-crushing season, food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said mills are running and he expects state governments to be strict in ensuring payments to farmers this season.

He said 350 sugar mills were running compared to 510 a year earlier. Out of the around 115 mills in Uttar Pradesh, 90 have started crushing operations.

“The (remaining) mills will start operating soon,“ he said adding that they have been asked to make payments to farmers in 14 days from the date of purchase. “State governments will ensure that payments are made to farmers in time,“ he said. The minister said that sugar mills currently owe Rs 3,640 crore to farmers against total cane price dues of Rs 58,269 crore on December 1, 2013. Sugar arrears in UP fell to Rs 1,157 crore from Rs 3,055 crore in October, followed by Karnataka Rs 1,725 crore from at Rs 1,802 crore.Giving details Paswan said that in Uttar Pradesh, the Bajaj group, the Modis, Mawana and Simbhaoli are yet to pay sugar arrears to farmers.

Mills in UP blame the high state-fixed prices of cane for their inability to pay and have been asking the government to link cane and sugar prices, as is the case in top producer Maharashtra and Karnataka.

The Haryana government had increased the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane for the 201415 crushing season to Rs 305 per quintal.In Uttar Pradesh, the SAP remains at `. 280, out of which Rs 40 per quintal will be given by the Centre, Paswan said.

Opening stocks of sugar on October 1 amounted to 72 lakh tonne compared to 91 lakh tonne in the year earlier, he said. The sugar industry feels it will be difficult to pay arrears in 14 days, as ruling prices are below the cost of production.

“Sugar in wholesale was being sold at Rs 24-24.50 per kg excluding duty, which is below cost of production of Rs 32 a kg,“ said MG Joshi, managing director, National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories.