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Bagaha : Non-payment of sugarcane price to the cane growers of West Champaran district in North Bihar to the tune of Rs 231.72 crore by five Sugar Mills : Bagaha, Harinagar, Narakatiaganj, Majhaulia and Lauria, during 2o18-2019 season alone has hit them very hard. This is over and above non-payment of a staggering amount to them last year (2017-2018 season). There is no other agro industry in the district.
The non-payment of cane price has forced the growers to postpone social and religious functions including even the marriages of their daughters and sons, payment of tution fee of their children, and treatment of ailing family members. They are not even in a position to undertake the ongoing kharif cultivation as they are unable to buy seeds and fertilisers for want of money.
According to sources, the cane growers of the district have supplied about 74.75 lakh quintals of cane to five sugar mills till December 8, 2018, and had spent about Rs 57.93 crore in reaching cane to the Sugar Mills hoping to be paid after a fortnight of the supply as that is mandatory for the factory under Sugarcane Purchase and Supply Act. Any delay in payment beyond a fortnight attracts the payment of interest at the prevalent bank rate.
A sugarcane farmer Nandeswar Pandey of village Pathakauli says the talk of payment of interest is farce. The farmers are more concerned about the actual payment which remains elusive even after a month even as the Sugarcane Development Minister Khurshid alias Firoz Ahmad ( MLA from Sikta) belongs to West Champaran district, he said.
D N Tiwary, an advocate at Bagaha, says the mills owe such a huge amount to the cane growers yet the officials concerned remain indifferent. The loan taken by the farmers from the banks through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) run into several crores and they are being hounded by Certificate Officers, he added.
The central government had announced that farmers income would be doubled soon but the the ground reality is that they are unable to meet their household expenses, said Deep Narain Prasad, President, Tharu Welfare Federation, West Champaran.