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CM should have directed sugar mills to pay cane SAP: Rajnath
New Delhi, May 27: Describing the plight of cane growers in Uttar Pradesh as `sad, unfortunate and challenging`, new agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh today put the onus on state government to come to the farmers` rescue.
New Delhi, May 27: Describing the plight of cane growers in Uttar Pradesh as "sad, unfortunate and challenging", new agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh today put the onus on state government to come to the farmers' rescue.
"Chief Minister should have herself directed the sugar
mills in the state to pay the state advisory price (SAP). When
I was the Chief Minister, cane price payment at Rs 95 and
Rs 100 per quintal was ensured", he said after taking charge.
Centre cannot direct the state to ensure SAP payment as under the federal structure of the polity it has its limitations, he said. When pointed out that sugar prices have now fallen abysmally, he said they are remunerative enough to pay the cane SAP to farmers.
Singh said he will hold talks with his colleagues, Food Minister Sharad Yadav and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh to break the deadlock.
"I have deeply studied the issue and have some possible solutions in mind which I will discuss with them," he said. He expressed concern that the SAP has not been paid while the cane crushing season is coming to an end and the farmers will be reluctant to sow sugarcane in this fiscal.
State government has fixed an advisory price of Rs 95 per quintal for cane but the millers have expressed their inability to make payments on the pretext of sugar prices falling to low levels.
They have demanded a Rs 600 crore package from the state government for disbursing the differential between actual price paid and the SAP to the farmers.
Bureau Report
Centre cannot direct the state to ensure SAP payment as under the federal structure of the polity it has its limitations, he said. When pointed out that sugar prices have now fallen abysmally, he said they are remunerative enough to pay the cane SAP to farmers.
Singh said he will hold talks with his colleagues, Food Minister Sharad Yadav and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh to break the deadlock.
"I have deeply studied the issue and have some possible solutions in mind which I will discuss with them," he said. He expressed concern that the SAP has not been paid while the cane crushing season is coming to an end and the farmers will be reluctant to sow sugarcane in this fiscal.
State government has fixed an advisory price of Rs 95 per quintal for cane but the millers have expressed their inability to make payments on the pretext of sugar prices falling to low levels.
They have demanded a Rs 600 crore package from the state government for disbursing the differential between actual price paid and the SAP to the farmers.
Bureau Report