Terming the advisory price of cane announced by Uttar Pradesh government as ‘insufficient’, opposition parties today accused it of playing in the hands of sugar lobby and overlooking the interest of the farmers.
“The government has announced the State Advised Price (SAP) keeping in view the interest of the sugar mill owners.
The cane price should be hiked further,” UP Congress Committee president Reeta Bahuguna Joshi said in a statement.
The state cabinet had yesterday increased the SAP for sugarcane by Rs 25 from Rs 145 last year to Rs 170 per quintal for early variety this year.
“Cane production costs between Rs 190 to Rs 200 per quintal to the farmers while the government has announced the hike in the bracket of Rs 160 to Rs 170 per quintal, which is insufficient,” Joshi said.
She said that even Haryana and Uttarakhand have announced higher SAP than UP and demanded that farmers should get price according to their cost of production.
While the Samajwadi Party alleged that by announcing a nominal hike of Rs 25 per quintal, the state government had cheated the farmers.
“This decision indicates that Mayawati government is anti-farmer and is playing in the hands of the mill owners,” SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said.
Chaudhary added that the government should have announced a minimum SAP of Rs 300 per quintal as the cost of production had increased manifolds due to increase in prices of fertiliser, seed and electricity.
Meanwhile, BJP also threatened that it would launch an agitation against the anti-farmer approach of the government.
“When sugar was priced at Rs 15 to 20 per kg, farmers were getting SAP of Rs 125-145. Now when the rate has surged to Rs 36-40 per kg, the government has announced a nominal hike. How will it benefit the farmers,” party vice-president Hriday Narain Dixit said.
Bhartiya Kisan Union led by Mahendra Singh Tikait and Rashtriya Lok Dal also demanded an increase in minimum support price.
“Support price announced by the government is unacceptable to us. We will launch an agitation if the prices are not increased further,” Tikait said.
