The second round of meeting between the Punjab Government, expert committee, and the farmers’ representatives on Monday also remained indecisive over finalising the state assured price (SAP) of sugarcane. Now, a meeting of cane growers will be held with the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday to finally resolve the matter.
The Chief Minister will be meeting the farmer leaders at 3 pm on Tuesday at Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh, primarily to determine the final SAP.
The farmers, on the other hand, announced to continue with their protest, while indicating that they may not go ahead with the bandh call given for Tuesday over their demands to increase the SAP for sugarcane.
Notably, the state’s farmers have been agitating against the Punjab Government since August 20 by blocking the Delhi-Amritsar national highway near Jalandhar, besides blockading the rail tracks over their demand for raising the SAP of sugarcane.
The farmers have already rejected the recent hike of Rs 15 per quintal announced by the government the previous week.
It has been learnt that the farmers have been demanding SAP of sugarcane to be on a par with neighbouring Haryana at Rs 358 per quintal — which is also the highest in the country. During the meeting, it has been learnt, the Government claimed that the production cost should be Rs 350 per quintal, while the farmers pegged it at Rs 392.
A government official said that a meeting of farm leaders with an expert committee was held at Jalandhar District Administrative Complex and couldn't arrive at any conclusion. The official maintained that a very detailed discussion was held with the farmers and during the meeting, all the genuine demands and concerns of the farmers were taken up and the officials gave them a patient hearing.
The official stated that a consensus has been reached between the Government and farmers on many issues, “but still, there are divergence on some issues which we expected would be resolved in tomorrow’s meeting with the Chief Minister”.
The farmers have already threatened to block all highways, if their demands were not accepted.
A day before, the farmers’ representatives had a meeting with the state Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa at Chandigarh, followed by Monday’s meeting with the State Government officers in Jalandhar.
Punjab Government had on August 19 revised SAP of sugarcane by Rs 15 per quintal - Rs 325 per quintal for the early variety, Rs 315 per quintal for mid variety and Rs 310 per quintal for the late maturing variety.
On the other hand, the prices in Haryana are Rs 345 and Rs 340 per quintal for early and late varieties. The prices are Rs 327 and Rs 317 for early and late varieties in Uttarakhand, and Rs 325 and Rs 315 for early and late varieties in Uttar Pradesh.
Opposition parties, including Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party, are also seeking an increase in the SAP. Also, there are nine cooperative and seven private sugar mills which have to pay nearly Rs 160 crore to the cane growers for the last cane crushing season.
As cane growers continue to block national highway and rail tracks in Jalandhar, the Supreme Court, while hearing a petition on a similar issue related to Uttar Pradesh on Monday, commented that though farmers have the right to protest but roads cannot be blocked. The Apex Court also granted time to the Central Government to look for a solution as the solution lies in the hands of the Central Government and the concerned states.
SIDHU QUESTIONS GOVT OVER LOW SUGARCANE SAP
As the state’s cane growers continued their protest demanding an increase in SAP, Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday came in their support, questioning the party-ruled Government in Punjab for low SAP. Sidhu, once again taking on his own party’s government, stated that Punjab is offering low assured price compared to what it is offered by Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand — all BJP ruled states. “The sugarcane farmers’ issue needs to be immediately resolved amicably…Strange that despite the higher cost of cultivation in Punjab the state assured price is too low as compared to Haryana/UP/Uttarakhand. As torchbearer of agriculture, the Punjab SAP should be better!” he tweeted.