A meeting of the UP chapter of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) was scheduled to be held in Delhi on Friday to discuss the current scenario but was postponed.

C B Patodia, president of UP chapter of ISMA said: “Union Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar has invited us for talks on November 10, where officials of the state government will also be present.”

“After this meeting, we will hold a meeting of mill owners and then decide on a schedule of commencing crushing and other related issues.”  

The Association has two major concerns. The immediate concern is the losses they are going to suffer due to the cane production which is sufficient only for 40 per cent of their capacity utilisation. To offset these losses, they want concessions from the government.

Since it is a sellers market, the mills are ready to pay the farmers a premium of over and above the state advisory price of Rs 165 to 170 per quintal depending on their quality.

Their next concern is that the price they will pay this year should not become the base for deciding the SAP next year.

Under the provisions of the UP Sugarcane (Supply and Purchase) Control Order, every sugar mill has to sign an agreement with the local cane cooperative society for buying cane.

The society, through its farmer members, supplies cane to the sugar mills and the payment is made by the mill to the farmers through the society.

The agreement is signed on the SAP, without any mention of the premium. The mills pay the SAP by cheque while the premium is paid in cash immediately on delivery. This time, the farmers are insisting that the premium should be reflected in the agreement and the price mentioned there should not be less than Rs 280 per quintal. The mills are opposing this as it would then become the base price for next year.  

Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, who addressed a kisan panchayat in Meerut on November 5, has given a three-day ultimatum to the state government to revise the SAP or face an agitation from November 9. The RLD leader has said that they would otherwise paralyse rail and road traffic and government offices, and also gherao the Parliament.

Caught in this situation, the state government has stepped up its efforts to get the sugar mills start crushing so that the farmers can start getting the premium, which will in turn threaten the agitation.

According to Cane Department sources, the efforts are being made to ensure that at least a dozen mills in public and cooperative sectors, and the same number of mills in private sector, should commence crushing by next week. In fact, two cooperative mills at Bijnor and Saharanpur will start crushing on November 9.