Punjab CM Mann promises upward revision of SAP for sugarcane farmers

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, while interacting with the media persons on Friday after parleys with the Farmers unions, said that the state government has always been on top to provide rates to the sugarcane cultivators and now this trend will be continued.

He said that the state government was giving Rs 380 per quintal as State Agreed Price (SAP) of the sugarcane which was highest in the country till Haryana had recently enhanced it to Rs 386 per quintal.

However, Mann said that the state government will soon give good news to the farmers by upward revision of this price, after holding a meeting with the sugarcane mill owners, in the coming days.

He said that for the first time in the history of the state his government has cleared all the pending arrears of sugarcane farmers, which were inherited from the

previous governments.

Bhagwant Mann said that the state has 16 sugar mills out of which nine are from the cooperative sector and the remaining ones are from the private sector.

Mann said that only the payment from two private mills viz. Phagwara and Dhuri are pending, adding that the wheels have been set in motion for recovering this money, and paying it to the farmers, after selling these properties.

The Chief minister said that his doors are open for dialogue with any section of the society but harassment of common man on pretext of protests is totally unacceptable. He said that this needs to be checked.