Pawar questions bailout package of Rs 7K crore for sugarcane farmers

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has questioned the bailout package of Rs 7,000 crore for sugarcane farmers announced early this week as misleading as the breakup of the figures actually total up to only Rs 4047 crore.

In a two-page letter shot off to PM Modi on Friday, he sought an immediate decision to allow export of 80 lakh tonnes of sugar in the next 18 months. “The dire need of the hour is to push as much sugar out of the country as possible” or else the sugar mills having overflowing godowns will not be able to crush the sugarcane in the new season.

He noted that the breakup of the bailout package shows Rs 1540 crore as incentive to mills on sugarcane, Rs 1175 crore for creation of buffer stock of 30 lakh tonnes and Rs 1332 crore interest subvention on augmenting ethanol capacity that totals up to only Rs 4047 crore.

Pawar also asserted that the quarterly reimbursement to farmers from purchase for the government''s buffer stock is not practical as he wanted it directly to the sugar mills as in the past to enable them to release cane payment to the farmers on time and in full.

He also sought a fresh look on the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar at Rs 29/kg at mill gate since average cost of production itself is Rs 34-36 per kg. Moreover, he wants two separate MSP rates as the northern sugar

mills predominantly produce superior quality ''M'' grade sold at a premium of Rs 2/kg while the mills in rest of the country produce "S" grade that sells at a discount of Rs 2/kg.