THE issue is an old one, even if it is tempting to link the Punjab government’s takeover of a handful of sugar mills in the province to the ruling PML-N’s newfound love for farmers.

The sale of the mills’ assets is deemed as a last-resort measure to ensure a basic act of trade: payment of dues to the cane growers, in this case for their produce sold in the year 2014. The law stipulates payment within 15 days of procurement.

In reality the mills have for long frustrated the farmers’ wishes and have added to an already extensive list of grievances in which the ‘sugar barons’ appear to exploit those who till the soil.

The millers say they now owe ‘only’ Rs3bn of the original outstanding amount of Rs134bn to be paid to the farmers for the cane bought in 2014.

The counter argument is to the point and reasonable. The delay in payment badly hurts the unpaid farmers who are not in any small number and leaves them struggling for resources. It shakes their confidence and they remain vulnerable to all kinds of unwanted advances for future crops.

The farmers’ case is simple — but the same cannot be said for the government which has intervened with this takeover of the sugar factories to ensure that the growers get their due.

There are complications. The millers have long been seeking interest-free loans from the government citing a ‘liquidity crunch’. The millers in Punjab give Sindh’s example where the sugarcane is, officially, much cheaper.

Asking for a level playing field, the millers in turn report non-payment of Rs2.66bn that was due in rebate three years ago — in addition to Rs2.5bn the State Bank was to pay them as rebate in the last fiscal.

Just as the farmers must get their dues promptly, other problems, including those linked to official promises, should not be eclipsed by the growers’ cry of anguish. Short of an adherence by everyone to system, the pain could return frequently.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd , 2015

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