By Our Correspondent, Sarlahi, Oct. 14: Sugarcane farmers in Sarlahi have been left disappointed during the major festival of Dashain as Annapurna Sugar Industry in Pashchim Dhankaul has yet to pay them for sugarcane purchased seven months ago.
Farmers said the mill, which completed sugarcane crushing by mid-April, still owed payments for sugarcane purchased after February 27.
During the 2025/26 crushing season, the mill purchased 993,752.67 quintals of sugarcane worth Rs. 616,127,655 from 3,186 farmers.
In July, police arrested mill owner Shailendra Gupta over the failure to pay sugarcane farmers. He was released after committing to clear the dues in instalments following complaints from the farmers.
Ram Kalyan Yadav, a sugarcane farmer from Dhankaul Rural Municipality-2, complained that the mill management had been making excuses and sending farmers back whenever they visited to demand payment.
“Others are enjoying Dashain, but we sugarcane farmers are disappointed because we have not received payment for the sugarcane we sold seven months ago,” he said.
Yadav said farmers had made so many trips to the mill to demand their money that their slippers had worn out.
Ram Aadhar Rai, a senior sugarcane farmer from Dhankaul, said the local sugar mill had disappointed farmers during the major festival.
He said the practice of making various agreements with farmers when preparing to operate the mill, only to delay payments after purchasing their sugarcane, had yet to end.
“The mill shows us great kindness when buying sugarcane, but now it is reluctant to make payments,” he said.
Ramesh Srivastava, administrative chief of Annapurna Sugar Industry, claimed that the mill was gradually clearing the farmers' dues.
“We are selling sugar and paying the farmers with the proceeds. We will clear all farmers' outstanding payments before the mill begins operations this year,” he said.
Farmers supplying sugarcane to Annapurna Sugar Industry have been facing repeated difficulties in receiving payments on time.
As the mill has a record of delaying payments, many local farmers prefer to sell their sugarcane to Indushankar Sugar Industry in Hariwan, along the East-West Highway, which is known for making timely payments.
Farmers complained that Annapurna Sugar Industry lured them into selling their produce by making various promises but failed to pay them on time.
Chief District Officer of Sarlahi Bijaya Raj Subedi said he was coordinating efforts to ensure that sugarcane farmers received their outstanding payments.
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