It's carrot and stick policy for sugarcane in U'khand

The Uttarakhand government today said it would now apply the carrot and the stick policy in the sugarcane sector.

With the crushing season all set to start next month, the government has asked all the private sugar mills to settle the dues of farmers immediately warning that their cane area would be curtailed otherwise.

On the other hand, the government is planning to issue debit cards to farmers for getting their dues from sugar mills with a promise of the settlement within one month time in the coming season.

After holding a high-level meeting here, Sugarcane Minister Madan Kaushik said the government could take other punitive measures also in case the dues were not settled in time.

An estimated amount of Rs 20-25 crore of the farmers is still due on private sugar mills while the government and cooperative mills have already settled all the dues.

In addition to this, the government said it was working out a plan to give special incentives to farmers for increasing the sugarcane acreage in order to boost production.

Last year, sugarcane production had fallen by 50 per cent owing to heavy shortfall of sugarcane acreage.

The move comes as farmers have expressed resentment over the delay in accepting their various demands, which include a bailout package for electricity bills and early announcement of state advised price (SAP).

Farmers, under the banner of Uttarakhand Kisan Morcha (UKM), had already held a series of demonstrations in various parts of the state, particularly in Haridwar.

UKM General Secretary Rakesh Agarwal, in a memorandum, has demanded that the state must fix SAP at Rs 200-250 per quintal for the next crushing season. The farmers are also seeking a bailout package by waiving off penalties on their electricity bills.

Last year, the Uttarakhand government had fixed the SAP for ordinary sugarcane at Rs 143 per quintal and Rs 148 for the early variety for the year 2008-09. But this year, it has set up an expert committee to declare SAP.

Officials said the committee, the members of which were nominated yesterday, is likely to give its recommendations on SAP shortly. The first meeting is likely to be held at Haridwar tomorrow, official sources said.