Sugar mill’s failure to pay leaves farmers’ Dashain bleak

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.