STATE GOVERNMENT TO BEAR 70 PERCENT OF INCREASED SAP OF SUGARCANE

Chandigarh, November 1:

In a major relief to the farming sector of the State, the Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi accompanied by the Deputy Chief Minister S. Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and the Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, on Monday decided in a meeting with the private sugar Mill owners that the 30 percent of the increased Rs. 50 per quintal State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane will be borne by the private sugar mill owners while the rest 70 percent by the State Government.

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Notably, the farmers had met the Chief Minister for the start of sugar mills at the earliest but the mill owners were refusing to bear Rs. 50 load.

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In order to end this deadlock, a meeting with the mill owners was fixed today. In the meeting, it was decided to share burden by 70 percent (State Government) and 30 percent (Private Sugar Mill owners).

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With a view to protect the interests of the farmers, the Chief Minister ordered to get the mills ready for early start to which the mill owners agreed to commence operations on scheduled time.

Notably, the SAP was increased from Rs. 310 to Rs. 360 for the year 2021-22.

Now, the private sugar mills would pay Rs. 325 per quintal out of the SAP while the remaining Rs. 35 per quintal would be borne by the State Exchequer.

Among others present on the occasion included the Chief Secretary Anirudh Tiwari, Financial Commissioner (Cooperation) Anurag Aggarwal, Principal Secretary (Finance) K.A.P. Sinha, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Hussan Lal and MD Sugarfed Rajiv Gupta.