CHANDIGARH: Punjab cooperation minister Harpal Singh Cheema said in the state assembly on Saturday that cooperative sugar mills in the state have to pay Rs 313 crore to sugarcane farmers and private sugar mills owe them Rs 257 crore.
During question hour on the second day of the budget session, Cheema assured the House that the state government was making all efforts to ensure that all the sugar mills make timely payment to the cane growers. He emphasised that the state government would attach the properties of the private sugar mills if they fail to pay the farmers in time. Cheema accused the earlier governments in the state of protecting the private sugar mills and said that the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) government was also following the legal process in case of the private sugar mill at Phagwara for recovery of farmers' money.
