Lucknow: Farmers in Uttar Pradesh under the banner of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) blocked state highways on Wednesday to protest against the government for not increasing Sugarcane Advisory Price (SAP) of sugarcane for the crushing season 2019-20. This is the second consecutive year the UP govt has not increased the prices.
Taking up the issue, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has also sent a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stating that the prices of fertilizers have doubled along with a hike in power and labour costs. She also demanded to clear of the pending cane arrears.
In a circular issued by the cane development department on December 7, the state government announced SAP of sugarcane at Rs 315 per quintal (for normal variety of sugarcane). Likewise, SAP for low and high grades cane price are at Rs 305 and Rs 325 per quintal, respectively.
BKU has however demanded Rs 450 per quintal for sugarcane. Diwan Chandra Chaudhary, BKU UP president, said, “We have given an ultimatum to the state government to hike cane prices to Rs 450 per quintal till December 21. We will again launch an agitation from December 21 if the government don’t increase sugarcane price.”
