Punjab hikes sugarcane price to Rs 380 per quintal
Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Oct, 2022 01:05 PM
Chandigarh, Oct 3 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday announced an increase in the price of sugarcane to Rs 380 per quintal, a hike of Rs 20.
Announcing this on the floor of Assembly, he said the farmers will get the additional amount under State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane as compared to the last year.
With this decision, the state government will spend additional Rs 200 crore annually to benefit the farmers.
Mann said the farmers of the state eagerly want to adopt sugarcane crop under crop diversification, but they are hesitant for it due to lack of adequate price and timely payment of the crop.
At present, sugarcane is cultivated on just 1.25 lakh hectares in Punjab, while the total crushing capacity of sugar mills was around 2.50 lakh hectares. This is why the state government has decided to enhance the price to supplement the income of farmers, he said.
Informing the House about the present status of the payments, the Chief Minister said cooperative sugar mills have already paid the entire dues of the farmers but two private sugar mills have not paid the dues yet.
He said the owners of the mills have fled from the country, adding the state government has already initiated the process to confiscate their assets to pay the pending dues of the farmers.
Davinder Singh, aka Kala, was arrested on Sunday from Haryana's Fatehabad town. Two suspects involved in the killing -- Keshav and Charanjeet -- had stayed with him, police officials said.
What was the worst is that he went to admit his wife at a local hospital on Monday morning after his brutal attack but concealed the severed body part at his residence to make sure that the doctors are unable to reattach it.
Congress leader and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is undergoing a one-year jail sentence, was on Monday admitted in heptology ward of the PGIMER in Chandigarh due to liver-related problems, a statement said.
Mann reached Moosa village in Mansa district to express his condolences to the bereaved family. Heavy police security has been deployed outside the residence of Moosewala. A few villagers held a protest against Punjab Police over heavy security deployment ahead of the Chief Minister's visit.
Currently lodged in Tihar jail in a MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) case, Bishnoi is allegedly involved in more than five dozen criminal cases lodged against him in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Punjab. He had once threatened to kill Bollywood actor Salman Khan.
The Chief Minister said Moosewala was a multi-talented artist who was blessed with mesmerising voice and creativity. He said his untimely and tragic death has given a major blow to the music industry in general and millions of his fans in particular.
