In a move that would give relief for 1,400 sugar cane farmers in Zaheerabad area, the government has decided to auction properties of Trident Sugars located at Zaheerabad to pay the pending arrears of ₹ 12.7 crore for about 1,400 farmers. It was also decided to rope in sugar cane factories at Sangareddy and Magi in Nizamabad district for crushing of sugar in about three lakh acres grown in Zaheerabad area. This will benefit for about 10,000 sugar cane farmers.
Finance T. Harish Rao held a review meeting with the farmers, officials and representatives of sugar mills here on Wednesday. The Minister himself stated that he had a meeting with factory management for four times followed by four more times by the Collector in the past. “Despite giving written undertaking, the factory management failed to keep the word. They have not paid arrears so far and notices were issued under Revenue Recovery (RR) Act. We will be holding a meeting tomorrow at Hyderabad in which the Government Pleader (GP) will also attend in addition to sugar cane commissioner. We will decide how to proceed further. Trident has failed to pay arrears to the tune of ₹ 37 crore at Chittur in Andhra Pradesh and the government there had already commenced the process of under RR Act,” said Mr. Harish Rao. He said that the factory management has not responded even after issuing notices under RR Act.
“Many functions like marriages were postponed in our houses as the factory management had failed to pay the the arrears. See that we can sell our sugar cane already produced to other factories,” said Penta Reddy, a sugar cane farmer. He has also said that some farmers have sold sugar cane at neighbouring States. Mr. Harish asked the representative of Ganapati Sugars whether they are in a position to take the sugar cane grown at Zaheerabad. The factory officials have informed that they can grind the entire sugar grown at Zaheerabad at their factory as presently it was only 2.2 lakh acres of sugar cane being grinded. However, he said that they need some time to crush the sugar cane. The factory also came forward to pay the transport cost as per norms.
Panduranga Reddy, another farmer asked how many agreements were made with farmers by the factory. Assistant Sugar Cane Commissioner Ravi has informed that despite four notices, the factory management did not sign any agreement with farmers. It was also stated that the factory management did not overhaul the machinery.
The Minister said a firm no to the request made by a representative of Trident to give one more chance, stating that the factory management failed repeatedly to keep the word and lost trust among farmers. “Farmers lost trust in the management and they will not bring sugar cane to the factory even if I tell them,” said Mr. Harish Rao.
Collector P. Venkatarami Reddy, MLA Manick Rao, MLC Fareeduddin, DCMS chairman Shivakumar and others have participated in the programme.
