No change in sugarcane support price in UP

The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday said the minimum support price for sugarcane for the current financial year would remain unchanged at Rs.280 per quintal.

A state cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav took the decision on the matter.

Yadav said after the meeting that his government would, however, ensure that the arrears of cane growers pending with the sugar mills are paid to them on time.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the decision showed that the state government was not serious about cane farmers but out to please sugar mill owners.

"When the prices of sugar are on the rise both in retail and wholesale, why is the government not increasing the MSP of sugar cane?" Bharatiya Janata Party state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

He said the Samajwadi Party government had failed miserably in getting the dues cleared, which had allegedly crossed Rs.75,000 crore.