Faced with the mounting arrears of the sugarcane farmers coupled with the record sugar production, the State Government has urged the Centre to increase the monthly sugar sale quota of State mills by 60 per cent to a 10 Lakh MT.

UP sugarcane commissioner Sanjay Bhoosreddy has written to the Union Food Ministry for increasing the sugar sale quota from 6 Lakh MT to 10 Lakh MT for June so that the financial liquidity of mills can improve and aid in for settling the arrears.

Although UP sugar production stands at more than 1.20 crore MT compared to about little over 1 crore MT in Maharashtra, the latter’s sale quota was fixed at a much higher level of 9 Lakh MT.

Bhoosreddy said that the quota was fixed at 6 Lakh MT since some mills had not updated latest production figures. “The state sale quota was capped on the basis of sugar production figures up to March 2018. We have now requested the food ministry to increase our cap to 10 Lakh MT.”

He said the revised sale quota order for UP was likely to be issued in two-three days. “Even if our mills are unable to exhaust their respective complete sale quota for June, they could still utilise it next month.” Currently, almost 60 per cent of the UP sugar stock stands unsold even as the total cane arrears stand at a steep level of over Rs 12, 000 crore.

Last week, the UP Government had put the state mills on a 15-day notice to settle dues failing which strict action was to be taken against them. Bhoosreddy, who is also the principal secretary of sugarcane, had warned 28 mills, whose payment levels were less than 50 per cent.

So far, UP sugar mills have collectively paid nearly Rs 2,290 crore in the current crushing season, while about Rs 12,300 crore is still outstanding.

UP Govt urges Centre to raise monthly sale quota by 60%