The standoff over the increase in sugarcane prices continued for the third day in a row, with talks between farmers and cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and other government officials inconclusive.
Farmers had launched an agitation on Friday demanding that the Punjab government increase the State Assured Price (SAP) of sugarcane to bring it at par with Haryana, where it stands at Rs 358 per quintal. They have already rejected the hike of Rs 15 per quintal announced by the Punjab government on Thursday. The state government had revised sugarcane to Rs 325 per quintal for early variety, Rs 315 for medium variety and Rs 310 per quintal for late maturing variety, which the farmers termed as too low.
Farmers have blocked rail tracks and a national highway in Jalandhar as part of their protest, causing major disruption to rail and road traffic and causing inconvenience to commuters. 83 trains were affected by Sunday’s protest. A fresh round of talks is to be held in Jalandhar on Monday to decide on the production price of sugarcane, as there was a gap between the production cost estimates submitted by the government and the claims of farmers’ unions.
Firozpur Railway Division said that a total of 83 trains were affected due to the blockade on the Ludhiana-Amritsar railway track on Sunday. He said 48 trains were cancelled, 12 trains were diverted and at least 23 were short terminated.
The Punjab government had called the farmer leaders for a meeting at Punjab Bhawan on Sunday. ChandigarhIn which senior farmer leaders including Bharti Kisan Union (Rajewal), Balbir Singh Rajewal, BKU (Doaba) President Manjit Singh Rai participated.
In the meeting, the officials presented the cost of sugarcane production as estimated by the government as the price of sugarcane was increased from Rs 310 per quintal to Rs 325 per quintal on Thursday. Farmer leaders told government officials that the figures calculated by them are very old and the actual rate of sugarcane can be fixed if the current cost of production is seen. Recently, farmers were also unhappy with the government’s decision to increase the price of sugarcane without taking it into confidence.
Following this, the government decided to hold another meeting in Jalandhar on Monday to discuss the cost of production of sugarcane, in which farmer leaders, government officials and agricultural experts from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana would be present. The price decided in the meeting will be sent to the Punjab Chief Minister for approval, after which there will be another meeting between the farmers and the CM on Tuesday to declare the final sugarcane price.
BKU-Doaba President Manjit Singh Rai said that the government officials in the meeting also accepted that the production cost of sugarcane at Rs 350 per quintal was low and wondered how Rs 325 per quintal was justified.
“We cannot accept anything less than Rs. 392 per quintal, which is our cost of production,” Rai said.
Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa admitted that the actual data on production cost of sugarcane was not available with the government at the time of Sunday’s meeting and its rate was increased recently. Therefore, experts were being engaged to calculate the actual price keeping in view the interests of both the farmers as well as the sugarcane industry.
On the other hand, Rai said that the final decision on removing the ongoing dharna on the railway track and on the national highway will be taken on Tuesday. “If the CM calls us for a meeting on Tuesday, we will take a final decision regarding lifting the dharna after that.”
Regarding the Punjab bandh scheduled for Tuesday, he said the decision would depend on what the chief minister said during his meeting with farmers.
It was also learned that the government has also assured the farmers to clear their dues of Rs 200 crore within 15 days, while ways to withdraw Rs. 43 crore of Phagwara sugar mill is pending, which is on the verge of closure.
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