Chandigarh, August 18:
The Chairman, Sugarfed Amrik Singh Aliwal today said that the cooperative sugar mills of Punjab would give due payments to the cane growers by the first week of September.
Divulging more, Aliwal said that the Cooperation Department guided by the vision of the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, is fully committed to the welfare of farmers and a provision of Rs. 300 crore has been made in the budget of 2021-22 by the State Government for complete payment.
The Chairman further pointed out that due to the painstaking efforts of the Cooperation Minister, the nine cooperative sugar mills in the State have already released a sum of Rs. 486.24 crore for the year 2019-20 while during the year 2020-21, a sum of Rs. 417.33 crore out of Rs. 472.10 crore has been paid. The Finance Department has sanctioned the release of Rs. 45 crore out of the balance Rs. 54.77 crore which would be paid by the first week of September to the cane growers.
Disclosing more, S. Aliwal said that owing to the Union Government still withholding the export subsidy and buffer stock subsidy to the tune of Rs. 9.77 crore of the cooperative sugar mills pertaining to the year 2019-20. This explains why the concerned department is being approached and the amount is hoped to be released soon. He also made it clear that as per the directions of the Union Government, the payment for sugarcane is credited directly into the accounts of the cane growers. The amount is released by the Union Government and paid by the Cooperative Sugar Mills as part of the sugar export subsidy and the buffer stock subsidy. The balance amount of Rs. 9.77 crore would also be credited directly into the accounts of the cane growers after the release. He also said that it would be the first time in the past many years that the due payment of the previous crushing season would be made by the first week of September.
