 "10 private mills in UP slapped with Recovery Certificates")
Uttar Pradesh government has issues Recovery Certificates (RC) against 10 private sugar mills for their failure to clear cane farmers' dues.
The RCs have been issued against units, some of which are owned by reputed sugar companies, including Modi (two units), Rana (3) and Mawana (2). While, one of the remaining unit is owned by the Yadu Group, two others are standalone mills.
The 10 defaulters were at the bottom of the cane payments' chart and together accounted for over Rs 1,352 crore of the arrears prompting the government to crack the whip.
Meanwhile, the consolidated sugarcane arrears in UP stand at over Rs 7,900 crore, which includes Rs 7,447 crore and Rs 478 crore as dues and interest payment. The payments percentage of all 118 mills, including 94 private units, in UP is about 64 percent.
Hearing a case on July 29, Allahabad High Court had directed mills to clear their dues within 3 weeks, following which the state government had convened a meeting with sugar mills owners to ask them to comply with the order lest strict action was taken.
The next date of hearing in the case is August 29.
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UP cane commissioner has directed respective district magistrates and superintendent of police to pursue the 71 First Information Report (FIR) filed against 38 mills in the past relating to cane arrears. RCs would be issued against other mills also if they also fail to act.
The mills have been expressing inability to clear dues over fall in sugar prices and high sugarcane prices payable in UP. During 2014-15, the state cane price was Rs 280 per quintal. However, the UP sugarcane prices have not been revised for three years running.
The companies had already notified they would not be in a position to run units in the coming season due to their bad financial health and mismatch between sugar and cane prices.