Govt releases Rs 95.60 cr released for cane growers

By Punjabnewswire4u

Chandigarh, June 25

          On the personal initiative of the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, the state government has released Rs. 95.60 crore to the State Cooperative Sugar Mills for further disbursement to the cane growers.

          Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the  State Cooperative Sugar Mills crushed 149.52 lac
quintals of cane and produced 12.93 lac quintals of sugar during the year 2012-13,  as against crush of 141.43 lac quintals of cane and production of 12.28 lac quintals of sugar in the year 2011-12.  

It may be recalled that against the total due cane payment of Rs.369.07 Crore, Cooperative Sugar Mills could pay 273.47 Crore from
their own sources and the balance Rs.95.60 crore have been now provided by the State Government which has been disbursed to the Cooperative Sugar Mills to ensure prompt payment of outstanding arrears to the Cane Growers.  

To boost the cultivation of the sugarcane across the state as a part of State’s ambitious program of crop diversification, the Punjab government had been constantly fixing higher sugarcane price as compared to the Fair Remunerative Price (F.R.P.) declared by the Central Government to encourage the farmers for opting sugarcane as an alternative crop to paddy. During 2012-13, State Government fixed the sugarcane price @ Rs.250/- per quintal against the F.R.P. of Rs.170/- of Central Government and for the coming crushing season 2013-14 the cane price has been fixed @ Rs.290/- per quintal against F.R.P. of Rs.210/- of Central Government.

 The State Government was committed to provide higher cane price to the
farmers in the State and timely lifting, crushing and payment of their produce by the Cooperative Sugar Mills in the State, added the spokesperson.