Rs 4,700 crore arrears: UP demands higher sale quota for sugar mills

UP cane minister to meet union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan soon

With the 2019-20 cane crushing season less than a month away, and last year’s payment arrears of Rs 4,700 crore, the Uttar Pradesh government will ask the central government to approve a higher monthly sale quota for sugar mills in the state.

Currently, the quota is about 700,000 tonnes a month, reckoned as impeding the capacity of private millers to settle arrears.

Of the total payables of Rs 33,048 crore for the 2018-19 crushing season, the pending dues to farmers of Rs 4,700 crore is nearly 15 per cent of mills’ net payment commitment. Of these, private mills account for the bulk,