SARLAHI, DECEMBER 31
At a time when sugarcane farmers are waiting for sugar mills to buy their produce, sugar mills in Nepal are said to be importing sugarcane illegally from India by leaving Nepali farmers high and dry.
As per sources, sugar mills such as Indushankar Sugar Mills of Hariwan, Everest Sugar Mills of Gaushala and Baijubabara Sugar and Chemicals Mills of Pokhariya have set up weighing scales at no man's land and buying sugarcane from Indian farmers.
Over 20 weighing sites have been set up by these mills at the border to buy sugarcane from Indian farmers.
As per the law, prior to setting up a weighing machine, the machine must get it examined, approved and sealed by the authority concerned.
"They have set up weighing machines on the border illegally and buying off sugarcane from Indian sugarcane farmers through middlemen at cheat rates by ignoring us, which is unfortunate," said local farmer Raju Singh of Balara.
According to locals, there are some middlemen from Nepal who are facilitating the purchase of sugarcane from Indian farmers. As learnt, middlemen purchase sugarcane for Rs 400 per quintal from Indian farmers and bring it to Nepal.
While the government in Nepal has failed to fix the price of sugarcane this year thus far, the sugar mills are said to be also earning extra by buying cheap Indian sugarcane but pocketing the government subsidy.
On their part, sugar mill operators denied that they were buying Indian sugarcane. "It's not true that we're bringing sugarcane from India by setting up weighing machines on the border," said Indushankar Sugar Mills manager Yog Narayan Rajak.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 1, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.