Rawat assures farmers for clearing sugarcane dues

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said Thursday that sugarcane growers of the state will soon be paid their dues.

Top priority will be accorded to farmers' interests and sugar mills taken on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode for better management of their affairs and safeguarding the interest of employees, he said.

"Pending payments of sugarcane farmers will be cleared soon," Rawat said after inaugurating an event to mark the sugarcane crushing season at Doiwala sugar mill.

Several programmes are being taken up under the Sugarcane Development Project to expand the sugarcane farming area under Doiwala sugar mill, Rawat said.

As part of it, in the secured sugarcane area of the mill in the past three to four years, better quality of sugarcane having highest sugar content is being sown, he said.

As a result, there has been an increase of 57 per cent in the sowing of high yielding varieties of sugarcane in the area, the chief minister said.

He said the target is to increase the sugarcane area of early varieties by 70 per cent.

In the past crushing season, from the secure catchment area of Doiwala sugar mill, a total of 29.56 lakh quintal of sugarcane was procured, he added.

(With inputs from agencies.)