Crediting reimbursement in farmers’ a/c incorrect: Pawar

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar opposed decision of Central government to credit amount of reimbursement against buffer stock of sugar directly into the account of farmers.

Pawar termed it as nonpractical and demanded to reimburse it to sugar mills. Pawar also raised doubt over actual amount of bailout package for sugar industry. He pointed that the size of package was Rs 8500 crore, however, in actual, it will be just Rs 4047 crores.

The union cabinet on Wednesday approved bailout package worth Rs 8500 cr to sugar industry which includes Rs 4500 cr soft loan for boosting ethanol production capacity and creating a 3 mn tonne stockpile to soak up excess supply.

However, according to Pawar, the net outgo from the exchequer of Government of India appears to be Rs 4047 cr. He said, the bailout package is of the magnitude of Rs 8500 crore or Rs 7000 crore seems to be incorrect.

Pawar demanded to increase price of ethanol to at least Rs 53/ltr at distillery gate. “The minimum selling price of sugar at Rs 29/kg need to be reviewed as the average production cost across the country is in the range of Rs 34-36 per kilogram,” Pawar demanded.

He stated so far as buffer stock is concerned, the reimbursement on quarterly basis will be credited into farmer's account is not practical. “It is logical that the reimbursement should be made directly to the sugar mills who would make use of it for releasing cane payment to the farmers on time and in full,” Pawar has stated.