CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association has urged the state government to recover Rs 1,217 crore dues to be paid for farmers by 24 private sugar Mills as per the Madras High Court direction.
In a statement, the association said that farmers were paid the state-advised price (SAP) for sugarcane which is over and above the union government's fair and remunerative price fixed for the sugarcane.
"In 2013-14, when the then Jayalalithaa government announced the SAP for sugarcane, the South India Sugar Mills Association (SISMA) filed a case in the Madras High Court claiming that the state government has no power to announce SAP. The SISMA did not pay the SAP to the farmers for four years from 2013-14 to 2016-17," it said.
The high court has ordered that the state government has the power to fix SAP for sugarcane and directed the state government to hold tripartite meetings to collect the dues from the mills to the farmers. "The court ordered to resolve the issue in 12 weeks, " it said, demanding the government to take steps to recover the total dues of Rs 1217 crore.
As per the court order, the cooperative sugar mills had paid the dues amounting to Rs 209 crore to the farmers taking assistance from the state government. "We demand the state government to hold the tripartite meetings to collect the dues from the private sugar mills and pay the farmers, " the association demanded.