7 defaulting sugarmills in dock

Gorakhpur, July 21 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government today issued Recovery Certificate (RC) against seven state sugarmills, which had defaulted in payment to farmers.

This was stated by UP sugarcane development minister Naseem-ud-din Siddiqui at a news conference here. The minister also said the Gorakhpur district excise officer had been suspended.

The defaulting units are Malakpur mill (Baghpat), Todarpur and Shermau mills (Saharanpur), Avtarpur mill (Moradabad), Gadora mill (Maharajganj), Padrauna mill (Kushinagar) and Nawabganj mill (Bareilly).

Mr Siddiqui informed that almost 80 per cent of the pending sugarcane dues of farmers had been settled, adding that by August 31, all pending dues of sugarcane farmers would be cleared.

''The state government has made a provision of Rs 200 crore of bank guarantee and Rs 100 crore of budgetary allocation to settle farmers' dues,'' he informed.

UNI