VISAKHAPATNAM: The government will invoke the Revenue and Recovery Act and auction lands of NCS Sugar factory in order to pay amounts due to sugarcane farmers that are pending since 2015.
This was stated by minister for municipal administration and urban development Botsa Satyanarayana at a review meeting with district collector A Surya Kumari and other senior officials of the district on Friday.
Later talking to reporters, he pointed out that the government has already sold some lands and had cleared dues to the tune of Rs 27.80 crore. Around Rs 16 crore remains to be paid, he said.
“The company has to pay the crushing dues of 2019-20 and 2020-21. The government has seized Rs 10 crore worth sugar and is ready to seize another 30,000 bags apart from auctioning 24,000 acres of land”, he said.
On the protests and allegations against the state government, he said that as per information available with him activists from one particular party had thrown stones in the name of farmers.
“The police did not resort to lathi-charge as alleged and not a single farmer has been arrested so far,’’ Satyanarayana said.
He said presently sugarcane was ready for harvest in 80,000 acres and in order to prevent farmers from suffering losses, the government is taking adequate steps.
Meanwhile, Telugu Rythu state president M. Srinivasa Reddy expressed concern that the state government was trying to brand farmers of NCS Sugar Factory as 'offenders' instead of solving their problems.
Reddy said that farmers have been staging protests for Rs 16.33 crore dues from the NCS Sugar Factory at Latchayyapeta in Vizianagaram district. The government should take over the factory so as to ensure a fair deal to the farmers.
Meanwhile, chairman of Assembly public accounts committee Payyavula Keshav wondered why the state government decided to purchase 9000 MW from Adani Solar at Rs 2.49 per unit when all other states had rejected the same at was ‘too costly’.
