A day after Centre extended financial help to cash-starved sugar industry, the Uttar Pradesh government today slapped notices on 19 more sugar mills for not paying dues worth Rs 2,778 crore to farmers.
The so-called recovery certificates (RC) were issued to 19 mills on top of the 17 issued earlier this month for non- payment of Rs 1,674.09 crore of dues, including interest.
Private sugar mills have paid only Rs 10,593 crore to cane farmers against the total payable of Rs 17,365 crore, a state government press statement said here.
"State cane commissioner Subhash Chandra Sharma has today issued RCs against 19 more sugar mills for not expediting the payment of cane price," the statement said, adding that the RCs were for Rs 2,777.97 crore, including interest.
With this decision, Sharma said RCs have been issued against 36 sugar mills, including 15 mills of Bajaj group, 3 mills each of Simbhaoli group and Mawani group and 2 mills each of Modi group and Shamli group.
The action has been taken against those mills which have made lowest payment so far, he said, adding that legal action would be taken against other sugar mills as well if they fail to make required progress in next two days.
Sharma said the directives have been issued to district magistrates to take timely action against the sugar mills against whom RCs had been issued.
In the 2013-14 season (October-September), UP millers, including 96 private mills and 23 co-operative mills, have crushed 6,978 lakh quintals of sugarcane to produce 646 lakh quintals of sugar.
Yesterday, the Centre had decided to provide up to Rs 4,400 crore interest-free loan to sugar mills to clear cane arrears that has mounted to Rs 11,000 crore, bulk of which pertains to Uttar Pradesh.
Besides loan, the government also decided to hike import duty to 40 per cent from 15 per cent and extending export subsidy till September this year.
