Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday announced to increase in sugarcane price of Rs 416 per quintal for the upcoming crushing season, reaffirming his government’s firm commitment to safeguarding the interests of farmers across the state.
Interacting with the media persons after inaugurating the New Sugar Mill and Co-Generation Plant at Dinanagar, the Chief Minister said that Punjab has become the first state in the country to fix such a high price for sugarcane, setting a benchmark at the national level.
He said that Punjab will be giving the highest rate of sugarcane across the country thereby immensely benefitting its farmers. Bhagwant Mann said that the state has always led the country in maximum sugarcane price adding that today this tradition has been continued.
The Chief Minister expressed hope that this pro-farmer move will greatly benefit cultivators, especially those in the border districts where sugarcane is a key crop. CM Mann added that sugarcane serves as an ideal alternative crop that can further strengthen the state’s crop diversification efforts. He urged the Union government to recognise and promote sugarcane as a viable substitute for water-intensive crops.
Responding to media queries, the CM informed that he had dedicated the new Cooperative Sugar Mill at Gurdaspur, marking a landmark achievement in the state’s cooperative and agro-industrial sectors.
He said that established in 1980 with an initial crushing capacity of 1,250 TCD and enhanced to 2,000 TCD in 1987, the mill has served as a vital support system for sugarcane growers for over four decades.
Mann said that with the region now producing nearly 80 lakh quintals of sugarcane, against the mill’s earlier capacity to crush only 25 lakh quintals per season, the Punjab government undertook a major modernisation project to address this gap.