12 sugar mills face action for not paying farmer dues

Documents reveal defaulting mills have withheld as much as Rs1.34b owed to sugarcane growers

PUNJAB:

The Punjab cane commissioner has ordered action against a dozen sugar mills in the province for defaulting on dues owed to sugar cane growers, The Express Tribune has learnt.

The mills, some of which are connected to prominent political leaders, have withheld as much as Rs1.34 billion, revealed documents shared by the cane commissioner under the orders of Punjab’s chief information officer.

“There are 41 sugar mills in Punjab and 29 of them have completed 100 per cent payment to sugar cane growers,” said Cane Commissioner Nadeem Abbas Bhangu. The remaining 12 have been declared defaulters and legal action is being initiated against them, he told The Express Tribune.

To crack down on the mills in question, the cane commissioner has referred their cases to concerned districts’ deputy commissioners. But although authorities have confiscated 6,000 sugar bags from such mills in Okara alone, their and other defaulter mills’ management has obtained a restraining order from court to prevent such action, sources said.

According to documents, three of the mills that failed to pay their dues are connected to National Assembly opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif. Two of them – Ramzan Sugar Mills Jhang and Al Arabiya Sugar Mills Sargodha – operate under his son Salman Shahbaz’s supervision while the third, Abdullah Sugar Mills, is owned by his brother-in-law Ilyas Meraj.

Ramzan Sugar Mills still owes more than Rs460 million while Al Arabiya Mills has defaulted on over Rs98 million, the documents showed. Meanwhile Abdullah Sugar Mills not only owes Rs88 million to farmers but has also defaulted on a sugar cess worth almost Rs42 million. According to sources, the cane commissioner has imposed a fine equal to the cess for the failure to pay it.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesperson for Abdullah Sugar Mills said the management wants to clear dues but the administration itself was ‘an obstacle’ in this regard. The spokesperson also claimed high court orders in this matter had not been implemented.

Another two mills in the defaulter list – Tandlianwala Sugar Mills-1 Faisalabad and Tandlianwala Sugar Mills-2 Muzaffargarh – are connected to Haroon Akhtar, who served as special assistant to the prime minister under Nawaz Sharif. The former mill owes more than Rs79 million while the latter has defaulted on over Rs188 million, the documents revealed. A spokesperson for both mills, however, claimed that most of these dues had been paid to sugar cane growers. “Tandlianwala Mills-1 only owes Rs20 million now. Remaining dues to Tandlianwala Mills-2 will be cleared this month,” the spokesperson said.

Former Privatisation Commission chairman Altaf Saleem is the owner of two more defaulting mills, Shakarganj Sugar Mills-1 and 2 in Jhang. According to documents, Shakarganj Mills-1 owes almost Rs106 million while Shakarganj Mills-2 owes over Rs84 million. Both mills are also among the five to receive show-cause notices for delay in paying the purchase price for sugar cane, sources said.

When contacted, Shakarganj Mills Manager Maj (retd) Hameedullah said the payments had been affected by various problems the management ran into but would be completed as soon as possible. “We are also issuing a schedule for payment of arrears,” he added.

Pakistan Sugar Mills Association Vice Chairman Javed Kayani’s Chinar Sugar Mills Faisalabad are also listed among the defaulters and owe more than Rs87 million, according to documents. A spokesperson for the mills, when contacted, said the management is trying to clear the dues as a soon as possible.

Other mills listed among the defaulters include Hussain Sugar Mills Jaranwala Faisalabad, which owes Rs66 million, and Haq Bahoo Sugar Mills Jhang, which owes Rs49 million to sugar cane growers.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2020.