BIJNOR: Amid tension over two Ponty Chadha Group sugar mills shutting down operations for the next crushing season, the Uttar Pradesh government has broken its silence over the issue and issued a stern warning to the erring mills to ensure that the mandatory repair works be resumed and the mill be prepared for the next season by the owners. The cane commissioner has said that these mills should be operated by Ponty Chadha Group till further instructions from the court or the government, failing which the group will have to pay for the entire standing sugarcane crop of farmers.The cane commissioner, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, issued notices in this connection to DS Bindra, director of Wave Sugar Industries Ltd of the Ponty Chadha Group. A copy of the notice was sent to district magistrate of Bijnor Atal Rai and district cane officer Yashpal Singh. The notice clarifies that there is no order of the government or Supreme Court to take over the two sugar mills so far.In his notice, Bhoosreddy wrote, “It came to our notice through the media that the mills’ staff were paid off and rumours are doing the rounds that these mills will be taken over by the government and will be operated by a corporation. But these rumours are baseless. The government has not passed any order in this connection so far. These mills are to be run by mill owners. Therefore, mill owners should start repair work for the next crushing season. If mill owners do not comply with the order, recovery of dues for farmers’ standing crop will be made from the mill owners. Apart from this, mill owners will be responsible for any law and order situation if farmers create chaos after mills are not operated.”Citing the apex court’s order, the cane commissioner added that mill owners were to continue operating the mills and should not transfer ownership of the mills without permission of the court.A high voltage drama is going on for the last one-and-half months in Bijnor district involving 50,000 farmers connected with these two sugar mills as most of the staff of the mills was paid off, stopping the repair work which is mandatory for next crushing season. Since then, there has been uncertainty and panic among the farmers.Ponty Chadha Group purchased five sugar mills, one each at Bijnor, Chandpur, Amroha, Bulandshahr and Saharanpur from the state government in 2010 when Mayawati was chief minister. Amroha, Saharanpur and Bulandshahr mills were shut down earlier. However, the state government had got Bulandshahr mill operated last year.

Stay updated with all the Meerut Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.