Trident agrees to pay arrears to sugarcane farmers in Sangareddy

At a meeting with Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Thursday, the company also agreed to take up crushing of this year's sugarcane harvest from November 20 onwards

Sangareddy: The tough stand taken by the State government against Trident Sugars Limited has compelled the company management to agree to pay Rs 13 crore in arrears to sugarcane farmers of Sangareddy district within a fortnight. At a meeting with Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Thursday, the company also agreed to take up crushing of this year’s sugarcane harvest from November 20 onwards.

Ending the logjam, the management agreed to pay Rs 5 crore on November 11 and the remaining Rs 8 crore on November 18.

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The Minister had, at a meeting on Wednesday, instructed the officials to enforce the Revenue Recovery Act against the company management to get the arrears paid to the farmers. Since the farmers were not willing to sell sugarcane to Trident this year due to inordinate delay in making payments, Harish Rao also suggested that the district administration make alternative arrangements to help farmers sell their produce this season.

Following the tough stand taken by the Minister, the Trident management met with Harish Rao in the presence of farmers at MCHRD at Gachibowli for another round of meeting on Thursday, where they agreed to release the dues and take up crushing.

Over 9,000 farmers in Zaheerabad area have cultivated sugarcane in about 3 lakh acres. The management owes about Rs 13 crore to 1,400 farmers for over a year which resulted in a logjam between sugarcane farmers and Trident management.

Stating that Telangana government’s priority was well-being of farmers, Harish Rao said they will not tolerate if Trident tries to create issues for sugarcane farmers. “We will certainly enforce the Revenue Recovery Act to recover the arrears if they violate today’s agreement,” he said.

He suggested that the company have a long term plan to run the unit without any issues, and assured them of all help from the government.

MPs, BB Patil, Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, MLC Fariduddin, MLA, Zaheerabad, K Manick Rao, Finance Secretary, Ramakrishna Rao, Principal Secretary, Industries department, Jayesh Ranjan, Finance Advisor to State government, GR Reddy, Collector, P Venkatrami Reddy,  Cane Development Corporation, Chairman, Umakanth Patil, Cane Commissioner, Ravindar Rao and others were present.

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