By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Dec. 16: The government has decided to take legal action against sugar mill operators who did not pay the dues to sugarcane farmers.
A meeting of the four ministers chaired by Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa on Tuesday directed the concerned bodies to take necessary action against the sugar mill owners who did not pay their dues to the farmers in time, said Chakra Bahadur Budha, spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
He said that discussions were held to solve the problem of paying sugarcane farmers and the meeting directed the concerned local administrations to take action against them. “The government will arrest the sugar mill owners if they do not pay their dues at the earliest,” he told The Rising Nepal.
The operators of Indira Sugar Mill, Lumbini Sugar Mill, Annapurna Sugar Mill and Sri Ram Sugar Mill have not cleared dues of the farmers.
The sugar mills have to pay Rs. 900 million to the farmers.
Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies Lekhraj Bhatta, Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Hridayesh Tripathi and Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Ghanashyam Bhusal were present at the meeting.
Meanwhile, sugarcane farmers are now staging protese in the streets of Kathmandu after they failed to clear the dues of sugarcane promised to be paid in the mediation of government last year.
They have started organizing protest demanding payment of all dues from the sugar mills since Sunday.
On Monday, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies called on the owners of sugar mills to negotiate payment to the farmers and directed them to take steps to address the problems of sugarcane farmers and announce schedule to pay their dues at the earliest.