Upping ante against the Samajwadi Party Government, the private sugar mills have declared that they will not crush cane in next season at the prevailing price and demanded that Government of India should intervene in the matter. In a letter written to Union Secretary, Food and Public Distribution, the Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mills Association said that millers in UP are made to pay `280 per quintal which is very high considering the market situation.
“The UP Mills can pay at the rate of `180 per quintal in the next season and the rest amount, which the millers are forced to pay, should be bridged by the Centre,” the association said in its letter released on Wednesday. It said that situation is very bad because this is the fifth continuous year of surplus sugar production. It is estimated that sugar stock in 2015-16 would be over 103 lakh ton — the highest ever in the annals of India.