Rawat demands Rs 500 cr from Centre for sugarcane growers

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has demanded a special package of Rs 500 crore from the Centre to address issues faced by sugarcane growers in the state.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday, Rawat apprised him of the problems faced by sugarcane farmers in Uttarakhand and requested that a special package of Rs 500 crore be given to the state to solve them, an official release here said.
Noting that the state of sugar mills is pitiable since there is a major gap in the cost of producing a bag of sugar and its price in the market, Rawat said this was also the reason why sugarcane farmers were not being paid on time.

Highlighting steps taken by the state government to ameliorate the condition of sugar mills, he spoke of introducing relaxation in commission to sugarcane committee, end of fee to mandi committee on biogas as well as calling off entry fee.
However, stating that these measures were not enough, Rawat said with their present resources, sugar mills are not in a position to pay the dues they owe to sugarcane growers and sought allocation of a special package of Rs 500 crore to the state for their welfare.
Rawat has also written to the Prime Minister regarding stalled hydropower projects in Uttarakhand as well as for consideration of a revival plan for the HMT watch factory through Ministry of Heavy Industries.

"It is the firm stand of government of Uttarakhand that projects should be implemented giving due cognizance to longitudinal connectivity, release of environmental flow and other general environment issues," he said.

On the HMT factory issue, he informed the Prime Minister about the background of the watch factory and that it was established in 1985 to provide employment to local youth and this was the first major public sector unit in the hill area but could not sustain due to financial constraints.
He added that the revival plan was under consideration but has not been implemented.
He further said that the unit has also been manufacturing other components for Defence and Aerospace organisations.