A file picture of tractors waiting to unload sugarcane

Harish Damodaran

New Delhi, Nov. 7

The deadlock over cane pricing in Uttar Pradesh seems near resolution, with a couple of private sugar mills and five cooperative factories slated to commence crushing in the coming week.

“We have fixed November 11 as the muharat date for starting our Simbhaoli and Brijnathpur units in Ghaziabad district. We have offered to pay growers the UP Government’s State Advised Price (SAP) of Rs 165-170 a quintal for the 2009-10 season (October-September)”, said Dr G.S.C. Rao, Executive Director, Simbhaoli Sugars.

In addition, “we are willing to pay an incentive (over and above the SAP) as and when decided, and this extra price would apply to cane supplied from day one”, he told Business Line.

Besides Simbhaoli, Modi Sugar Mills, too, is learnt to have decided to operate its Modi Nagar factory (also in Ghaziabad) from early next week.

The cooperative sugar mills at Baghpat, Ramala (Baghpat district), Sarsawa and Nanauta (Saharanpur), and Najibabad (Bijnor) have announced November 9 as their starting date for crushing.

All these factories have apparently agreed to stamp the SAP of Rs 165-170 as the price payable on their parchis (weighment slips against cane indents) issued to growers. This is significant in the light of the Uttar Pradesh Government locking horns with the Centre over the latter declaring a Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 129.84 a quintal (linked to 9.5 per cent sugar recovery) for the current season. The Centre, on October 22, had issued an order exempting mills from paying any cane price other than the FRP, while putting the onus of bridging the gap vis-a-vis the higher SAPs on the States themselves.

Ms Mayawati’s Government in Uttar Pradesh has said that it is not bound by the FRP and would ensure mills fork out the SAP.

“With the above mills accepting the SAP on paper, it is only a matter of time before others fall in line.

The alternative is to risk losing one’s cane to the units that would start crushing”, industry sources pointed out.

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