Punjab: Coop, pvt mills owe Rs 665 cr to sugarcane growers

Rajmeet Singh

Chandigarh, March 5

For the current fiscal year, six private sugar mills and nine cooperative mills owe Rs 465 crore and Rs 200.53 crore, respectively, to cane growers. Not only this, two private mills owe Rs 34 crore for fiscal years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23.

This information was shared on a question asked by Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary during Question Hour of the Budget session today.

In the information tabled in the House, it was pointed out that the cooperative sugar mills had no arrears for previous fiscal years. For the current fiscal year, Rs 340.42 crore had been paid while Rs 200.53 crore was pending against the total cane crushed.

It was further pointed out that the farmers were being paid the highest sugarcane price by Punjab. The fair remunerative price of Rs 315 per quintal had been fixed by the Government of India, whereas the state government had fixed the state advised price of Rs 391 per quintal, a difference of Rs 76 per quintal.

The state government had made a provision of Rs 250 crore in the Budget of 2023-24 for the release of sugarcane payment by cooperative mills. Of this, a sanction of Rs 169.34 crore had been issued by the Finance Department and a note for releasing balance of Rs 80.66 crore had also been sent to the department.