Saharanpur (UP), Nov 2 (PTI) Authorities have sealed the administrative building and a guest house of a private sugar mill here for allegedly failing to clear dues of sugarcane farmers, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sanjeev Kumar said the mill at Ganjnauli allegedly owed Rs 196 crore to sugarcane farmers.

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The district administration had issued several notices to the mill, owned by Bajaj Hindustan Sugar Ltd, to clear its dues, he said.

Kumar added that an arrest warrant was also issued against the mill's executive officer Harvesh Malik.

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A senior official of Bajaj Hindustan Sugar said the matter had come to their notice and "we are taking necessary steps to clear the dues on a priority basis".

On Tuesday, a team from the district administration reached the mill with an attachment notice. After allegedly not finding anyone at the site, the officials sealed the administrative building and the guest house.

Saharanpur has six sugar mills. Of these, three in Deoband, Shermau and Sarsawan have cleared 100 per cent of their dues, Kumar said.

Cane arrears -- the money owed to farmers for the sugarcane procured by the mills -- were an important issue during elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly earlier this year. In its election manifesto, the BJP had said mills would be punished if they did not clear their dues on time.

On Monday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while campaigning for the Gola Gokarannath bypoll, also assured the electorate of clearing sugarcane dues at the earliest.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)