Pay Tk 11-crore arrears for sugarcane

Sugarcane farmers gather in front of Thakurgaon deputy commissioner's office yesterday as they prepare to submit a memorandum to the prime minister through the DC, demanding payment of the arrear dues for the sugarcane supplied by them to Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd during the last crushing season. PHOTO: STAR

Sugarcane growers under the jurisdiction of Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd have demanded immediate payment of their dues for the item supplied during the last crushing season.
On Sunday afternoon, they submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina through Thakurgaon Deputy Commissioner Mukesh Chandra Biswas to press home their 11-point demand including immediate payment of their Tk crore 11 crore arrear dues.    
They also demanded raising the purchase rate of per maund sugarcane to Tk 150 from present Tk 100.
Earlier they brought out a procession in the town and held a discussion in front of the DC Office.
Over five hundred farmers supplied 1-lakh 15 thousand 444 tonnes of sugarcane to the mills for about two months during the recently ended crushing season, but they are yet to get their dues worth about Tk 11 crore, said leaders of sugarcane growers association.   
Despite regularly approaching the mill authorities for their dues, the farmers have to return empty-handed, they said.
Contacted over cell phone, SM Abdul Aziz, managing director of Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd, said, "In last crushing season ending on March 18, the mill produced 8,100 tonnes of sugar by crushing 1-lakh 15 thousand 444 tonnes of sugarcane. But we are still unable to pay the dues to the farmers as the sugar of last two seasons, amounting about 16,000 tonnes, remained unsold."  
"The dealers are not interested to draw sugar from state-owned sugar mills as the private companies are selling a kg of sugar at Tk 38 while the rate of state owned mills is Tk 40. The private companies who import raw sugar set their prices lower than the price fixed by state-own mills," he said.
He demanded increasing the import duty on raw sugar to save the state-owned sugar mills as livelihood of thousands of families including mill workers and sugarcane farmers is related with it.