The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has exposed the wrong claims of the Punjab-based sugar mills that they are paying Rs180 per 40 kilogram sugarcane price to the growers.The IB report revealed that the sugar mills are paying only Rs155-175 per 40kg to the farmers. The report said the sugar mills in different districts of Punjab are violating the minimum price of Rs180 per 40kg. Agents or middlemen of the mills are purchasing sugarcane from growers directly from their fields or the designated weighbridges, approved by the Punjab Cane Commission Department. The practice is continuing since beginning of February, as the government is not taking any action against it. Similarly the mills have for long frustrated the farmers’ wishes and have added to an already extensive list of grievances in which the ‘sugar barons’ appear to exploit those who till the soil.The millers say they now owe ‘only’ Rs3bn of the original outstanding amount of Rs134bn to be paid to the farmers for the cane bought in 2014.The counter argument is to the point and reasonable. The delay in payment badly hurts the unpaid farmers who are not in any small number and leaves them struggling for resources. It shakes their confidence and they remain vulnerable to all kinds of unwanted advances for future crops.The farmers’ case is simple — but the same cannot be said for the government which has intervened with this takeover of the sugar factories to ensure that the growers get their due. There are complications. The millers have long been seeking interest-free loans from the government citing a ‘liquidity crunch’. The millers in Punjab give Sindh’s example where the sugarcane is, officially, much cheaper. Asking for a level playing field, the millers in turn report non-payment of Rs2.66bn that was due in rebate three years ago — in addition to Rs2.5bn the State Bank was to pay them as rebate in the last fiscal.Just as the farmers must get their dues promptly, other problems, including those linked to official promises, should not be eclipsed by the growers’ cry of anguish. Short of an adherence by everyone to system, the pain could return frequently.
pk.shafaqna.com
