Farmers in the southern part of Sarlahi are now worried about which industry to sell their sugarcane to. After the nearby sugar industry did not pay last year, they had made up their mind to sell to other industries through forks.
Farmers have complained that the local political party is forcing them to sell sugarcane to the industry they mentioned, due to the financial greed of sugar mills.
Godaita municipality, Balra municipality and Ramnagar rural municipality in the southern part of the district did not allow other industries to have their forks. Municipalities have claimed that other sugar mills are deceiving farmers through forks and the nearby sugar industry is not allowed to keep the forks of other industries in their area to prevent the situation from closing down without getting sugarcane. But some farmers in this area have accused the municipal leaders of forcing them to sell sugarcane to the industry for not paying them last year.
Vijay Mahato, a farmer of Godaita Municipality-11 Sisotia, complained that the industrialist did not pay 55,000 for selling 180 quintals of sugarcane to Mahalakshmi sugar mill in Baghdad last year, although he paid 50,000. Although he made up his mind not to sell sugarcane to Mahalakshmi this year, he lamented that he was in trouble after the municipal chiefs forbade him to keep other industries.
'When we could not get funds from the Mahalakshmi sugar industry last year, we are in a state of mind not to sell sugarcane to that industry this year, but the municipal chiefs are forcing us to sell it to this industry,' he said, 'The municipal chief is deciding where to sell the crops we grow. '
Umesh Mandal of the same place also claimed that he received only 78,000 payments of 30,000 one time and 48,000 another time for selling 153 quintals of sugarcane in Mahalakshmi sugar industry last year. According to him, there is an increased concern that the payment will not be received on time when the sugarcane is sold again in the industry that needs to be paid about 20,000. Harishyam Rai, General Secretary of the Sugarcane Rights Protection Committee, accused the municipality chief of interfering in the sale of sugarcane grown by farmers.
He said that in the setting of the industry, the municipal heads did not allow sugarcane to be sold in other industries. "The sugar mills here do not pay on time, the farmers should be able to sell sugarcane to other industries for payment," he said.
Mayor of Godaita Municipality Devendra Yadav informed that the weighing of sugarcane through the forks of other industries has been banned due to the fact that middlemen will be rich and farmers will be cheated. According to Yadav, the city chief, it has been found that middlemen pay less amount of cash to farmers than the price set by the government and write the sugarcane in their name and eat the amount of government subsidy.
According to him, Bagdah sugar mill is in operation to benefit the farmers of this area and more than 200 workers are employed there, so this decision has also been taken to encourage the industry in the village. "In order to stop the middlemen and to make the industry 'run' along with the sugarcane farmers, we have banned the establishment of external industries," he said Sugar Industry, Mahalakshmi Sugar Industry and Annapurna Sugar Industry are in operation. Among these industries, the farmers have complained that they have not yet received the payment for sugarcane sold in the previous year from Mahalakshmi and Annapurna sugar industries, even though Indushankar sugar industry has paid them on time.
