Sugarcane farmers ‘indefinite’ protest at the Jalandhar-Phagwara highway enters its fourth day today. The blocked roads and railways tracks continue to give commuters a hard time, while there’s no headway in talks between farmers’ leaders and Punjab Government.
The meeting between Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and farmer leaders remained inconclusive on Sunday. The farmers have been demanding State Advised Price (SAP) on sugarcane to be raised to at least Rs 370, as compared to the previous price of Rs 295 to 310 (varying according to variety).
They said the per quintal price of sugarcane in Haryana was Rs 350 last year and had now been raised to Rs 358, but sugarcane growers in Punjab had been receiving a price of Rs 310 per quintal for the last five years.
Meanwhile, supporting the demand of farmers, PPCC Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu today through a tweet once again questioned his own government and said Punjab’s assured price is way too less than other states.
He said, “The sugarcane farmers issue needs to be immediately resolved amicably …. Strange that despite the higher cost of cultivation in Punjab the state assured price is too low as compared to Haryana / UP / Uttarakhand. As torchbearer of agriculture, the Punjab SAP should be better”.
Besides, the protesting farmers have also said if their demands are not met, they’ll give a Punjab Bandh call for Tuesday, and that the dharna will not end till the price of sugarcane reaches Rs 400.
Farmers’ leaders said that the Amarinder Singh government has made us the target of a cruel joke. They have announced a meagre rise of Rs 15 per quintal. “During the finalisation of this amount, the state government did not have any representative from our side. We expected the SAP on sugarcane to be raised to at least Rs 370”, said Manjit Rai, head of the Bhartiya Kisan Union.