UP orders FIRs against 16 Bajaj sugar mills

The Uttar Pradesh government today ordered first information reports (FIRs) to be lodged against all the 16 sugar mills that Bajaj Hindusthan owns in the state for allegedly failing to honour farmers' payment commitments for the crushing season 2007-08. Shishir Bajaj-controlled Bajaj Hindusthan is the country's largest sugar producer. A delegation of UP farmers had recently blockaded one of its factories in Meerut and then held a demonstration in front of the company's headquarters in Noida over payments. Cane and Sugar Commissioner H S Das today directed the respective District Magistrates to lodge FIRs, or complaints submitted to the police, against the company's 16 units spread across UP. State cane department spokesperson A K Sinha told Business Standard that on May 15, 2008, the Supreme Court in its interim order had directed the sugar mills to clear dues at the rate of Rs 110 per quintal (one quintal=100 kg) by June 12. It is alleged that although the company paid the farmers' dues, it deducted Rs 10.58 per quintal as transportation charges, which the government contends was not allowed by the apex court. A Bajaj Hindusthan official claimed they had not received information in this regard. He maintained that the group had honoured the Supreme Court's order in letter and spirit and it was a matter of interpretation that the state government was seeing it differently. Meanwhile, the state government also issued Recovery Certificates (RCs) against seven other sugar mills in UP for failure to clear farmers' dues and commission charges for the 2007-08 crushing season. These mills are Kamlapur (Sitapur district), Bilari, Agwanpur, Majhawali (Moradabad), Gadaura (Maharajganj), Gopi (Aligarh) and Padrauna (Kushinagar). The FIRs have been lodged under section 22 of the UP Cane Purchase and Supply Act, 1953, and section 419 and 420 of IPC. All the seven mills together have an outstanding of Rs 93.22 crore relating to farmers' dues, interest and cane growers' society commission. By Ms.Bobby Aanand, Metropolitan Jury.

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