No state sugarcane price: Agriculture bodies to block highway on November 17

JALANDHAR: To protest ágainst the Punjab government for not announcing a state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane, Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba) said on Friday that it would block the Jalandhar-Pathankot national highway in Dasuya on November 17. Farmers are also demanding that the private mills release a schedule for crushing the crop’s harvest.

The union leaders said they may block rail traffic also. After the announcement, the state cane commissioner revealed that the government had decided to announce SAP at Rs 310 per quintal.

Addressing a press conference, union president Manjit Singh Rai and spokesperson Satnam Singh Sahni said their dues of last year worth Rs 450 crore were already pending and private sugar mills, which crush around 70% of the cane in Punjab, were adding to their woes by not releasing a “crushing schedule”.

The union leaders said area under cane cultivation had increased by 12 % already in the state, but there was uncertainty over crushing and they were staring at huge losses. “If millers will not crush cane properly this time, most area under cane would shift to paddy and then, next year, they would not get enough cane to crush,” said union leader Kirpal Singh.

The union demanded that the SAP should be fixed at Rs 350 this year. Private mills have already announced that they would pay only fair and remunerative price (FRP) announced by the Union government, which is Rs 275 per quintal, this time and the state government, if it announces the SAP, would have to pay the difference. Punjab Private Sugar Mills Association president Jarnail Singh Wahid said there were yet to receive a communication on FRP and SAP from the state government.

State cane commissioner Jaswant Singh said the letter to start crushing from November 15 had already been issued. “The state government has decided to keep SAP at Rs 310 per quintal. The notification will be issued after Sunday,” he said.