The district administration postponed the public sale of the non-public sugar mill positioned in Dhuri on Wednesday, allotting it yet another week to clear the cane farmers’ dues to the tune of 7.82 crore.

Administration officers went for the public sale within the morning and have been joined by officers of the excise and taxation division, who claimed that the mill defaulted on the tax of 46 crore.

In the meantime, farmers gathered outdoors the mill and didn’t enable the officers to go away.

Avtar Singh, a cane farmer and chief of the Ganna Sangharsh Committee, stated, “The administration deliberately brought the excise and taxation department into the picture to delay the auction. The excise officials are claiming that the amount is pending since 1974. But what were they doing before this?”

“Officials went inside the mill to pretend that they are taking action against the mill for not releasing any payment. However, it was me an eyewash as they went inside without the revenue records. Now they have given another week to the mill to clear the pending dues,” he said, adding that around 8 crore of more than 500 farmers was pending with the mill for the 2021-22 season.

“Besides, farmers of Haryana are also waiting for their dues amounting to 55 lakh, which has been pending since the last season,” the cane farmer stated.

Dhuri subdivisional Justice of the Peace Amit Gupta stated, “I am still inside the mill and speaking with management on this issue. Apart from this, I cannot comment on anything else.”