Sukhbir  Badal demands sugarcane SAP be increased to Rs 380 per quintal  

(Expresses solidarity with protesting cane growers, rejects measly increase affected by Cong govt after four years)

(Assures next SAD-BSP alliance govt will raise sugarcane SAP to Rs 380 per quintal)

Chandigarh, August 21 – Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal today while expressing solidarity with protesting sugarcane farmers, demanded the Congress government increase the State Assured Price (SAP) of sugarcane to a minimum of Rs 380 per quintal besides calling for the immediate release of all pending payments due to the cane growers.

He also announced that in case the Congress government did not do justice to sugarcane growers, the next SAD-BSP alliance government would raise the SAP to a minimum of Rs 380 per quintal. “We will include this commitment in our election manifesto also”, he added.

In a statement here, the SAD President said it was shocking that after refusing to increase the SAP for sugarcane for four years the Punjab government had affected a measly Rs 15 per quintal increase towards the fag end of its tenure. “This amounts to betraying both the sugarcane growers as well as the cause of diversification. The government has sprinkled salt on the wounds of the cane growers through this callous and insensitive act”.

Sukhbir Badal said had the government hiked the sugarcane price by a minimum of Rs 20 per year the SAP this year would have been at least Rs 380 which was a fair per quintal price for cane. “Not doing so has caused a loss of Rs 1,000 crore to Punjab farmers”, he said adding the neighbouring Haryana government was giving a SAP of Rs 358 per quintal which was Rs 30 to Rs 40 more per quintal”. He said the loss was much more if the interest quotient on the late payments as well as high State VAT on diesel was also taken into consideration.

The SAD President also demanded that the State government ensure immediate release of the backlog of payments due to cane growers from cooperative sugar mills. He said the government had also failed to issue a clear cut directive to private mills to clear the outstanding dues. “The private mills have sold sugar in the market but have not paid the farmers”.

Asserting that chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh was impervious to the suffering of the sugarcane growers,  Badal demanded that all dues should be cleared along with the interest quotient. He said as per the Sugarcane Control Order and Clause 3 (3) of the Sugarcane Purchase and Regulation Act sugar mills must make payments within 14 days of purchase or else pay interest on the late payment. “This Act should be implemented in letter and spirit”.

Asserting that the Congress government had failed to help farmers to diversify and move away from the wheat-paddy cycle, Mr Badal said the next SAD-BSP alliance government would give a push to sugarcane by implementing a remunerative SAP accompanied with strict regulation of both cooperative and private sugar mills to ensure sugarcane growers were not discriminated against in any manner whatsoever.