On a day when West Bengal chief minister and the Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee threatened to withdraw support for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the Centre has rejected the state claim that it will give an additional Rs 300 incentive over-and-above the minimum support price (MSP) for jute.
On Thursday, the state agriculture minister Arup Roy had claimed that the Centre agreed to provide a support of Rs 300 per quintal incentive per quintal. “There is no plan for any additional price of Rs 300 per quintal over the MSP from Centre and neither the Textiles Ministry nor Agriculture Ministry has proposed for such support or relief,” a top textile ministry official said here on Friday.
The state had earlier announced that it will pay Rs 100 per quintal over MSP, while demanding Rs 400 from the Centre. The state also had asked for the additional support as the production cost of raw jute is Rs 1,900-1,950 per quintal, whereas the MSP is Rs 1,700 per quintal.
Later on the day, minutes before Banerjee threatened to withdrawing the support, Union commerce and textile minister Anand Sharma has said that the Centre will set up a handloom institute, apart from two textile hubs in the state. “The state has to decide on which district they want to set up the textile hubs,” he said.
