3 sugar mill officials booked for non-payment of farmers cane dues: Lakhimpur Kheri DM

Three senior officials of a private sugar mill have been booked on charges of cheating for allegedly not paying the farmers’ outstanding arrears in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The other charges which have been slapped against the officials of Bajaj Hindustan Sugar Mill (BHSM) in the Pallia Police station area of the district included criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy, besides sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, police said on Tuesday.

The three officials who have been named in the FIR lodged at the Pallia Police station on Monday are the mill’s Finance Manager Manoj Kumar Mishra, General Manager (Cane) Sunil Kumar Dhingra, and an executive, Pradeep Salar, police said.

The FIR was lodged on the complainant of Pallia’s Cooperative Cane Development Committee secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh.

Lakhimpur Kheri District Magistrate Mahendra Bahadur Singh said stern action was taken after the mill management failed to clear the outstanding cane dues of farmers for the last 2020-21 crushing season despite repeated warnings, notices and meetings.

He added the sugar mill management paid only Rs 120.99 crore against outstanding cane dues of Rs 387.01 crore, triggering serious resentment among cane farmers.

In the FIR, it was alleged by the complainant that the non-payment of cane dues of the last season has led to severe unrest among the cane farmers, who had suspended cane supply to the mill even after issuance of indents.

The complainant alleged that the situation may lead to a law and order problem.

BHSM officials were not available for comments.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)