Kathmandu, Jan. 23 -- A day after the deadline for sugar mills to pay farmers their dues, the government on Wednesday said that it is going to freeze financial transactions of at least three sugar mills.

Four sugar mills have made partial payments while two have gone out of contact, according to the Ministry for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, which reached a deal with sugarcane farmers earlier this month to clear all their dues by January 21.

Even as the deadline passed, sugar mill operators still owe Rs800 million to sugarcane farmers, some of whom have not been paid for three or four years.

At a press conference, Dinesh Bhattarai, joint-secretary at the ministry, said that the ministry has written to Inland Revenue Department to fr...