Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday accused the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of neglecting sugarcane farmers by not clearing Rs 200 crore in pending payments for the crop supplied between January and March this year.
Despite repeated government assurances, the dues remain unpaid, pushing farmers into deep financial distress, Bajwa said. He criticised the government for prioritising private sugar mill owners over struggling farmers, pointing to a recent Rs 100 crore bailout package given to private mills.
“While private players receive generous payments, the farmers who worked hard for months are left to fend for themselves,” Bajwa said.
He further alleged that though Chief Minister Mann had announced in a farmers’ meeting at PAU Ludhiana in May that Rs 100 crore was released for payments to farmers selling to cooperative sugar mills, these funds were later diverted to private mills. Bajwa called this move a “betrayal and deception” that would harm Punjab’s cooperative sugar sector.
Highlighting the plight of cooperative mills, Bajwa said Fazilka Cooperative Sugar Mills Ltd has paid only 32% of farmers’ dues since the season began, despite continuing to sell sugar monthly under the quota system. Instead of clearing farmers’ payments, the revenue was allegedly used to pay salaries, arrears, pensions, gratuities, and maintenance costs dating back three years.
Bajwa demanded immediate payment of all pending dues to farmers and urged the government to protect the cooperative sugar sector from further damage.
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