Cane fair price not binding on UP: Farmers' leader

RELATED NEWS Ajit Singh wants Ordinance on cane price withdrawn

Even as the national capital is set to be besieged by cane growers from Uttar Pradesh (UP) threatening to ghereo Parliament, when it convenes for the Winter Session on Thursday, a section of farmers' organisations have decided to call off their agitation.

Cut in cane price

"We have passed a resolution at our Mahapanhayat in Lakhimpur Kheri to supply cane to the mills, subject to certain conditions. The decision has been taken in view of kolhus (makers of jaggery) reducing their cane purchase price to about Rs 125 a quintal in many parts of eastern and central UP," said V.M. Singh, Convenor of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan.

Lakhimpur Kheri district is home to the Gola, Palia and Khambarkhera mills of Bajaj Hindusthan and also the Kumbhi and Gularia units of Balrampur Chini . Meanwhile, a huge gathering of farmers, mainly from western UP, is expected to converge here, against the Centre's new 'fair and remunerative price' (FRP) regime for sugarcane announced by the Centre. The Centre's FRP of Rs 129.84 a quintal is lower than the UP Government's State Advised Price (SAP) of Rs 165-170 a quintal.

According to Singh, the FRP is not applicable to UP and, therefore, there is no case for any agitation on the issue. "Our demand for a cane price of Rs 280 a quintal remains and there is nothing preventing the UP Government from declaring it," he said.

Control order

The recent amendment to the Sugarcane Control Order, 1966 has introduced a new clause 3B, which says that if any State Government fixes a cane price above the Centre's FRP, it is obliged to pay the difference to the growers. The mills, on their part, have no obligation to pay the higher State-fixed price.

Singh's contention, however, is that the amendment has retained clause 3A, which provides for an "agreed price" for cane between growers and mills.

"Some political parties are misleading farmers that the new Ordinance replacing the statutory minimum price (SMP) for cane with an FRP has usurped the right of States to fix cane prices. The fact is that they never had this right in the first place," he claimed.

Singh said that the States did not "fix" but only "advised" cane prices. The SAP was, further, complementary to the "reservation orders" issued by State Governments, binding growers of an area to supply cane to a particular mill for which the area has been exclusively assigned.

Continued on the next page...