Sugarcane issue: RLD for direct talks between UP govt, farmers

Charging the Uttar Pradesh government with failing to give adequate price for sugarcane, RLD chief Ajit Singh today threatened to launch a state-wide agitation if the state government fails to resolve the matter within two days by holding talks with farmers.

"In other states like Haryana and Maharashtra, cane farmers are getting more than Rs200 for their produce from sugar mill owners, whereas the UP government is giving Rs180 to them. The state government is only talking to mill owners over the price whereas it should talk directly to farmers and initiate discussions between mill owners and farmers.
 
"We give two days time to UP government to resolve the issue, otherwise on November 26 we will organise a 'chakka jam' in the entire state," Singh told reporters here.

On the all-party meeting held earlier in the day to discuss the sugarcane pricing issue, Singh said it was decided agriculture minister Sharad Pawar would meet representatives of sugarcane producing states tomorrow to discuss the changes to be made in the Ordinance which the Centre had earlier moved, wherein it proposes to waive off the state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane.

"Though the government had last week announced that it will make amendments in the Ordinance and reintroduce SAP and ensure that mill owners pay the difference between SAP and Fair and Remunerative price (FRP), it has not done so.

"In the meeting with Pawar, we will urge him to include SAP in the Ordinance and also add another provision that requires the mill owners to share a part of their profits with sugarcane farmers," the RLD leader said.

In the Ordinance introduced by the UPA government last month, it waived off the SAP which is given by state governments to sugarcane farmers, and said the difference between SAP and FRP (announced by Centre and which is lesser than SAP) would be borne by state governments.

It had also excluded the clause on profit sharing between mill owners and farmers from the Ordinance. However, after the entire opposition had opposed the Ordinance and stalled the Parliament on the first two days of the ongoing Winter session, the government announced it would make the necessary amendments in the same.