Ugly scenes were witnessed in Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday when the BJP and Congress members stormed into the Well of the House raising the issue of non-payment of sugarcane dues and demanded action against erring private sugar mills.
The Government blamed import of raw sugar as the bane of this crisis. Minister Ram Karan Arya said that import of raw sugar has led to slump in the sugar prices which indirectly have affected the purchasing power of sugar mills. Both the Congress and BJP members later staged a noisy walkout over the issue.
While replying to the question Arya said only Rs640 crores or just 2.93 per cent of the cane dues of nine private sugar mills of the State in the past 2013-14 season is pending. Patting his Government’s back he said that even after fall of sugar prices the mills had made the payment and this was possible only because of strictness of the Government.
But when State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan intervened and alleged that the Centre was responsible for the sugar crisis the BJP members protested and came into the well of the House raising anti-Government slogans.
Khan went to the extent of saying that first the Congress and then the BJP were responsible for import of sugar. “Both the parties are two sides of the same coin as BJP is following all the policies started by the Congress at the Centre,” he said.
However, BJP and Congress members alleged that farmers were suffering because of a nexus between the Government and the private sugar millers. BJP legislature party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna said that no action has been taken against the erring private sugar mills who are yet to clear last year’s dues.
Congress member Akhilesh Pratap Singh too alleged that the Government was soft on the sugar mills. Gender ratio: The Government said the gender ratio in the State is improving as it has gone up to 946 female against 1000 male in 2012-13, from 943:1000 in 2010-11.
Minister of State for Health Shankh lal Manjhi created a controversy when he said that the PNDT Act to punish the people involved in female foeticide has several laxity. The statement was opposed by Dr Radha Mohan Das Agarwal (BJP) who said when the same Act is working efficiently in other States how it can be ineffective in UP. The Minister, who was replying to a question in the State Assembly, said that 4,891 ultrasound centres were registered in the State.