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Bagaha : The sugarcane growers of West Champaran district have held the state government responsible for their exploitation by the five sugar factories : Bagaha, Harinagar, Narakatiaganj, Majhaulia, and Lauria. They allege that the state government had delayed the announcement of sugarcane price for the current crushing season only to help the sugar factories.
The sugarcane crushing season started 45 days back but the government is yet to announce the sugarcane price, said CPI(ML) State Central Committee Member Birendra Gupta. The CPI(ML) has joined hands with a progressive cane growers front of Bagaha in their fight against the government and sugar factories.
The cane growers of West Champaran district have produced about 325 crore quintals of sugarcane and the sugar factories have so far crushed around 1.05 crore quintals of early variety of sugarcane worth over Rs 311. 55 crore till December 15, 2018, according to official sources.
Nandeshwar Pandey, Convenor, Progressive Sugarcane Farmers’ Front, aid that the farmers so far spent around Rs 63.31 crore for reaching sugarcane to the factories gates but the state government was yet to announce the sugarcane price. Pramit Kumar Singh, a sugarcane grower of Rampurwa-Lakshmipur, said that the farmer had borrowed money from moneylenders hoping to to return the same after a fortnight of supplying sugarcane to the sugar factories as payment of sugarcane price is mandatory for the factories within a fortnight from the date of the supply. But the factories are awaiting announcement of the sugarcane price by the state government, he said. Banks are asking the farmer to repay the loan taken through Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs), he said.
When contacted, General Manager (Personnel), Tirupati Sugars, Bagaha, Y S Bhatnagar, said that last season the factories of the state had suffered heavy loss but despite that they had paid the price of sugarcane to the farmers but even as sugar was being sold Rs 26 per kg, the government did not give them no objection certificate (NOC) for supplying molasses outside. The government had promised to give them subsidy to compensate for their loss but did not fulfil its promise, Bhatnagar said. The Tirupati Sugars always favours the sugarcane farmers and has great sympathy for them but the sugarcane price was likely to be paid after announcement of sugarcane price by the state government, he added.
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