The Punjab cabinet Saturday gave nod to disburse Rs 25 per quintal to cane growers out of the state agreed price (SAP) of Rs 310 for the crushing season 2018-19.
The balance amount of Rs 285 per quintal will be paid by the private sugar mills.
The decision in this regard was taken during the meeting of council of ministers led by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh here.
The ex-post facto approval to directly credit Rs 25 per quintal into the accounts of sugarcane growers came nearly three months after the state government had agreed to pay Rs 25 per quintal following state-wide protests by cane growers.
The move is aimed at ensuring economic viability of the mills and timely cane payment to the farmers for the crushing season 2018-19, and is a follow-up of the decision taken in this regard at a meeting held under the Chairmanship of the CM on December 5, 2018, as per an official release.
Notably, cane growers had resorted to protests in last December after seven private sugar mills refused to operate their units, citing unviability as main reason.
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Mill owners at that time had said that they would buy cane at the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 275 per quintal fixed by the central government.
However, the state government had issued a notification to purchase sugarcane as per SAP for early, mid and late varieties at Rs 310, Rs 300 and Rs 295 per quintal, respectively.
For the crushing season 2018-19, the government had decided to start operations of the crushing mills from November 15, 2018. Accordingly, crushing was started by the cooperative sugar mills.
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