All the dues to the tune of around Rs 41 crores of sugarcane farmers of Doaba region pending against Golden Sandhar Mills Ltd, Phagwara will be cleared by March 31, 2024, said Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Punjab here on Thursday.
The Agriculture Minister along with Special Chief Secretary Agriculture Mr. KAP Sinha was chairing a marathon meeting with sugarcane farmers led by BKU (Doaba) president Manjit Singh Rai and BKU (Lakhowal) president Harinder Singh here at Punjab Civil Secretariat-1. Inspector General of Police (IG) Intelligence Jaskaran Singh also attended the meeting.
Mr. Gurmeet Singh Khudian directed Deputy Commissioner Kapurthala Mr Karnail Singh to ensure payment of Rs 9.72 crore to farmers by the present mill owner and the first instalment of around Rs 2 crore should be paid before starting the cane crushing season this year.
He also asked the DC to expedite the process of attaching the properties related to the defaulter owners of Golden Sandhar Mills to make payments of the remaining amount of dues to the cane farmers by March 31, 2024.
He asked the officials concerned to immediately open the mill, which has been sealed from few days following protests, so that required repairs would be ensured to make it operational before the beginning of this year crushing season.
Reiterating the commitment of Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government to safeguard the interests of the state farmers, he categorically said that no one will be allowed to exploit the farmers.