March 1: Despite the assurance of the government that sugar mills would clear all the dues of sugarcane farmers within 21 days, the farmers say that they have not received full payment even after two months. The government had reached a understanding with the farmers in this regard and an agreement was signed on December 28, 2020.

At present, the sugarcane farmers are protesting by organising hunger strike while working in the fields. “The industrialists have not paid the dues yet. Therefore, as a protest, we are now working in the fields by having only one meal a day. We are in a situation where we have to hold hunger strike to get the value of our harvest,” said Hari Shyam Raya, secretary of the Sugarcane Farmers’ Struggle Committee, Sarlahi.

According to him, out of the total payment of Rs 900 million, only Rs 570 million has been deposited into the farmers’ account by the defaulting sugar mills while they are yet to pay Rs 330 million.

On the contrary, the government has stated that the data provided by the industrialists to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), show that they owe Rs 650 million in total to the farmers and Rs 570 million has already been paid.

Urmila KC, deputy spokesperson of the ministry, said that all the dues of the farmers have been paid except those who do not have bank accounts and have been out of contact.

Regarding the controversy surrounding the total dues, the ministry said that it can be ascertained whether the sugar mills owe Rs 900 million or Rs 650 million only after receiving the report of the Joint Technical Committee comprising the representatives of MoICS, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Finance, Sugar Producers Association, and sugarcane farmers.

According to the Ministry, the committee is currently undertaking its work and it will take another two months to prepare the report.

Raya has been saying that the problem in calculation has arisen as Mahalaxmi and Annapurna Sugar Mills reduce five to 20 kg weight per quintal saying that the quality of sugarcane is not good.

As per him, it won’t be a problem had they reduced 1kg weight per quintal of sugarcane. These two industries have made bills of 90 kg per quintal and 80 kg per quintal for farmers. Although they had raised this issue at that time, Raya complains that the industrialists did not listen to them.