Senior ministers to meet today to resolve UP sugar crisis

A group of senior Cabinet ministers will be meeting today afternoon at 3 to discuss ways to resolve the ongoing sugar crisis in Uttar Pradesh, reports CNBC-TV18.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Aviation Minister Ajit Singh are among those likely to be present at the meeting.

About 65 sugar mills, including industry leaders like Bajaj Hindusthan, Balrampur Chini and Dhampur Sugar, have suspended operations saying it was unviable for them to buy cane from the farmers at the prices set by the state government.

The points of discussion at today’s meeting include soft loans to the sugar industry, increase in ethanol blending to 10 percent from 5 percent increase in import duty, and creation of buffer stock worth 2 million tonne, sources said.

Also read: Price over Rs 225/quintal unviable says sugar mill body