New Delhi: The government is in the process of raising the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar by Rs2 a kilo, as recommended by the NITI Aayog, to help the sugar mills clear the farmers’ cane dues that have crossed Rs22,000 crore. A similar increase of Rs2 a kilo was allowed last year to sell sugar at Rs31 a kilo to the bulk buyers. The sugar industry has, however, petitioned to raise the price by Rs5-6 a kilo, claiming it won’t pinch the general public much while it will give an extra liquidity of Rs500-600 a quintal to the sugar mills to clear the cane farmers’ dues increasing by the day.
The industry says a higher sale price allowed to the sugar mills will not affect the public since 65% of the sweetener is bought by the bulk consumers like food products and soft drink manufacturers.
A task force set up by the government in the NITI Aayog has recommended a one-time increase of Rs2 a kilo, taking into account the “fair and remunerative price (FRP) or minimum support price (MSP) raised by Rs10 a quintal to Rs285 for 2020-21 season. An Aayog official said the recommended hike is based on the FRP and the minimum conversion cost of the most efficient mills.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday tweeted a farmer in Muzaffarnagar (UP) committed suicide as he could not bear his sugarcane crop drying up and the sugar mill in his area not giving the slip to take his produce. Contrary to the claim of the BJP government in the state to clear the farmers’ arrears within 14 days, she said many sugar mills have shut down without paying thousands of crores of dues to the farmers.
Priyanka said she can only speak about the farmers of Uttar Pradesh as in-charge of the state affairs but that must be the state of the sugarcane growers in other states too. She said she had warned the Yogi Adityanath Government about the plight of the families of the cane farmers not getting their dues from the mills despite cornering away their produce.
The farmer hanged himself from a tree in Muzaffarnagar allegedly due to non-procurement of his sugarcane produce amid the lockdown, his family said.
