The Uttar Pradesh Assembly today witnessed uproarious scenes over the delayed payment of sugarcane dues to farmers, with BJP and Congress members terming the ruling Samajwadi Party as "anti-farmer" and staging a walkout.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Congress members insisted that their adjournment notice be admitted as farmers were agitated because of mounting sugarcane dues of crores of rupees and demanded that government should immediately ensure payment.
Leader of Congress Legislature Party Pradip Mathur said Rs 3,100 crore was pending on sugar mills and a major part of it was of the last crushing season.
Demanding that the Minimum Support Price for sugarcane be increased to Rs 350 per quintal, he said it has remained stagnant at Rs 280 per quintal for the past three crushing seasons.
Mathur also alleged discrepancies in the purchase of sugarcane and claimed that cane mafia was purchasing it at a much lower rate from farmers and selling it to mills at higher rates.
"Steps needed to be taken to effectively check this practice," he said.
Pankaj Malik of Congress said that farmers faced hardships because of closure of mills and asked the government to look into it.
BJP's Laxmikant Bajpai said dues of Rs 650 crore of the last season was pending and if it was taken into account along with this year's dues, the outstanding amount stood at Rs 6,390 crore.
Bajpai said that instead of taking action against the managers of erring sugar mills, the government needs to take action against mill owners to ensure timely payment of cane dues.
Responding to the members' anguish, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Khan said a major part of the dues has been cleared but some sugar mills have acquired stay order from the court and action would be taken on it after getting it properly examined.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the reply, BJP and Congress staged a walkout charging the government of being anti-farmer.
