UP govt sticks to old cane price

Ignoring the demand of sugar mill owners, the Uttar Pradesh government has announced an unchanged state administered price (SAP) for the current cane crushing season beginning November 1.

The sugar industry, besides demanding a relief package from the government, had also pitched for the minimum support price (MSP), which is far lower than the SAP.

The MSP for the inferior, normal and better quality sugar would be Rs 122.50, Rs 125 and Rs 130 respectively. The SAP for the current season has been kept unchanged though opposition parties decried the prices, demanding a price hike this year. Sugar mill owners, however, had been demanding decrease in the prices.

The announcement was made by the sugarcane development minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui here in state assembly today. In an hour-long debate on the plight of the sugarcane farmers due to delay in crushing by sugar mills and arrears, the minister said all private mills who fail to honour their commitment of commencing operations from November would be penalised.

He said owners of these mills would be arrested and sent to jail. The minister said all private mills have given their schedule for commencing operations and all except Cooperative Sector Mill in eastern UP would start crushing by November-end.

On the arrears front, he said, all sugar mills would clear their debt by November 15. As on today, the total arrears stand at Rs 1,412 crore.

The amount includes Rs 1,074 crore owed by private mills, Rs 183 crore by cooperative mills and Rs 154 crore to be paid by government-run mills. Last year, the government had set August 31 as the deadline for all mills to clear the arrears.

In October, recovery certificates were issued against 64 private sugar mills in an effort to clear the dues of the farmers at the earliest.

Earlier, BJP's Hukum Singh targeted the government for ignoring farmers' interest. The farmers were on the verge of starvation due to the non payment of the cane price by the mills.

On the other hand, poor farmers were being targeted by banks, the UP Power Corporation and agricultural input suppliers for the recovery of dues.