Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and demanded a better price for the sugarcane. The development comes amid protests from sugarcane farmers in western parts of Uttar Pradesh.
Priyanka Gandhi wrote: "UP government has not raised the sugarcane price this year. I am surprised that in the last crushing season also, the prices were not raised. While your Government has raised the rates of electricity, fertilizers, but the sugarcane price has not been raised, even though the cost of labour has also increased".
"The farmers are not getting back their input cost and I request you to raise the price of the sugarcane in view of the distress in the community", she said.
The state government has fixed the sugarcane prices at Rs 315 per quintal and it has remained unchanged from the last year.
The farmers' Unions in the state are up in arms against this. They have blocked many arterial roads in Meerut, which is the highest sugarcane producing region in the state.
The protesters blocked the main highway leading to the Meerut-Karnal road and the arterial road adjacent to Muzaffarnagar.
On Saturday the state government announced that the rates will not be changed this year also, to the disappointment of the farmers. The farmers are also worried that their dues of the previous year have also not been paid.
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