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In Uttar Pradesh, the annoyed sugarcane farmers have resolved to escalate their protest in order to obtain a better rate for their goods.
Recently, Mahapanchayat, which can be referred to as elders’ meeting, was held in Meerut. The meeting witnessed the presence of thousands of farmers and many of their representatives. In this meeting, the farmers told if the impasse over state advised price (SAP) of the government of Uttar Pradesh and fair and remunerative price (FRP) of the centre extends beyond November 9, they will block the highways and rail traffic in different areas of the state from November 10 onwards.
The farmers also want to obtain better rate for their yields this time as the input prices have shot up.
Ajit Singh, the former union minister, addressed the large gathering of 50,000 sugarcane farmers. He said that due to the impasse over SAP and FRP, the issue has become a concern for the entire farming community of the nation. It is not limited to the sugarcane farmers of UP only.
The farmers vented out that they will burn the uncut sugarcane crop in Uttar Pradesh, if they are not given the proper price for their yields.
Ajit Singh told, “We will also gherao the Parliament from November 19, when the session starts to press for our demand”.
Amidst all this, the blockage over the SAP of about Rs 180 per quintal was declared by the government of Uttar Pradesh and fresh FRP of about Rs 130 per quintal of the centre.
Sharad Pawar, the union agriculture minister, had precisely told that FRP is only a base rate for the mill owners and they must give more than that to the sugarcane farmers because they are reaping large profits. However, this has failed to pacify the farmers.
According to sources, the central government is devising a compromise formula, which would require the states to pay on the tax price to mills, rather than the full difference between SAP and FRP.
The peeved farmers are saying they are not ready to go with anything which is less than Rs 280 per quintal as cane price. According to them, this is the input cost on the yields this year. They also added that this has already gone through many vagaries due to floods and drought.
Some sugarcane growers in Uttar Pradesh had set the sugarcane produce on fire to express their discontent against the pricing in the past. A concerned state government had to block the transfer of imported raw sugar in the state after a farmer’s group set the fire on a cargo that was containing raws in Shamli area of the state. The Financial Express
November 6, 2009
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