Mumbai, Oct 08: Leader of the opposition in Maharashtra Legisative Assembly Narayan Rane today demanded a minimum support price for sugarcane, similar to cotton under the cotton monopoly procurement scheme. Rane said the Maharashtra government's expression of inability to pay procurement price not more than Rs 560 per tonne could prove a death knell to sugarcane growers.
He pointed out that the price offered by the state was far lesser than the support price of Rs 695 per tonne announced by the Centre.
"With the sugarcane growers in the state contributing 40 percent of the total production of sugar in the country, the price announced by the state will aggravate their woes,” he said.
He exclaimed how the state could offer a price less than the support price announced by the Centre, since doing so was a cognizable offence.
"When the state ignores the demands of cotton growers and sticks to the support price of the Centre, why is it avoiding applying the same rule to sugarcane?,” Rane asked.
Bureau Report