Yatishwaranand asks sugar mills not to harass sugar cane farmers
The recently appointed state minister for Sugarcane development and sugar industries Yatishwaranand has asked the management of government and private sugar mills to mend their ways and warned that stern punitive action would be taken against those found involved in wrong doings and harassment of farmers. The minister gave this warning during a review meeting of his department at Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.
The minister told the officers that the complaints of wrong measurement in weighing sugarcane, transportation problems, procuring sugarcane from other states, dissuading local producers in purchase of cane, irregularities in quality checks, delay in payments, non payment of commission, lack of sanitation in purchase centres and poor infrastructure are common.
He said that the Sugar mill which has pending payments of farmers should not be allowed to close till its dues are cleared. He said that transparency in the payment process and adherence to the procedures should be there in the functioning of the department. The minister advocated preference to the local farmers in the procurement of sugarcane. He said that a committee consisting of representatives of local administration, farmers, Sugarcane committees and departmental representatives should be constituted in every district for smooth functioning of sugar mills. The minister also directed the officials to provide the record of all the employees with the dates of their joining to him. He said that officers should also provide him a report on the pending procurement of all the sugar mills. The Minister directed the managers of private sugar mills to clear the pending payments of farmers and asked them to submit two percent payment due on them to the Sugarcane council without any further delay. He said that progress on the suggestions given in the meeting would be reviewed within two weeks. The meeting was attended by Sugarcane commissioner Lalit Mohan Rayal, assistant commissioner Shailendra Chauhan, general manager Uttarakhand Sugar mill Ravikant and others attended the meeting.
Wednesday, 24 March 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
