A meeting of the district administration officials, including Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Panchal, Senior Superintendent of the Police (SSP) Gaurav Toora, SDM Jashanjit Singh, Punjab Cane Commissioner and leaders of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Doaba, headed by Manjit Singh Rai and Satnam Singh Sahni was held at the SDM Office here on Monday to discuss the long-pending sugarcane payments of farmers amounting to approximately Rs 28 crore against Golden Sandhar Mills Ltd, Phagwara.
Addressing the media after meeting, Manjit Singh Rai said officials had decided that no licence for the current crushing season would be issued to the sugar mill until assurance for clearance of farmers’ dues was given the Rana Group, the present mill owners. Rai said at the time of acquisition of the sugar mill by the Rana Group, an agreement was signed under which the firm was to clear the pending arrears by paying 2.5 per cent of its annual crushing-season profits towards farmers’ dues. He alleged that the firm failed to honour this agreement as it did not clear the pending dues of sugarcane growers.
