Even as the sugarcane crushing in Uttar Pradesh is going on full steam, the country’s top sugar producer is also piled up cane arrears of more than Rs 8,100 crore in the current 2019-20 season.
So far, all the 119 operational sugar mills have procured cane worth about Rs 19,250 crore from the farmers, of which they have settled Rs 11,100 crore, thus leaving more than 42 per cent or Rs 8,150 crore as outstanding.
Interestingly, the net outstanding on the state mills, predominantly private sector, owe much more to the cane farmers considering nearly Rs 447 crore for the previous seasons,