The Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA) today alleged that the state government was putting pressure on millers to purchase sugarcane from farmers, much ahead of the crushing operations start, setting a precedent.
The sugar mills plan to start the crushing operations by November 20 and delivery of sugarcane prior to that may create law and order problems. The local administration have started putting pressure on the mills of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur districts to immediately buy cane at state advised price (SAP) of Rs 205 a quintal even though the factories have told them that they would not be able to start operation before November 20, said a senior UPSMA official, who did not wish to be named.
“Asking the factories to weigh a few carts (of sugarcane) as a token and mark the parchis (slips) with Rs 205/quintal is a new precedent which had never been done in the past and this seems to be absolutely unjustified,” the official said.
When contacted, UP Cane Commissioner Kamran Rizvi said the industry body should discuss the matter with him, if there is any complain. On November 12, Chief Minister Mayawati had directed cane department officials to take stern action against sugar mills which fail to start crushing as per the schedule. UP is the country’s second largest sugar producer.
Industry representatives pointed out that sugarcane crop has not matured enough at present to start crushing. Mills would not be able to start crushing before November 20 and therefore, there is no reason to buy cane one week in advance, they said.
Millers added that there could be law and order problem as farmers would start bringing their cane to the factory if mills buy one or two carts of sugarcane as token.
UPSMA official assured that millers would buy cane from farmers at SAP even though it had filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court challenging the state government’s power to fix SAP. In a statement issued last week, Mayawati had said that “the state government is committed toward protecting the interest of cane farmers and stern action should be taken against those mills who fail to start crushing on time.”
