At an all-party meeting on Friday, the Centre agreed to roll back its decision which also means that the difference in payments to farmers over the fair and remunerative price (FRP) will have to be paid by the sugarmills instead of the government. In an ordinance last month, the Centre had replaced SAP with FRP and fixed the purchase price at Rs 129.84 a quintal for the current sugar cane season.
But the Centre’s decision to revisit the ordinance came in the backdrop of protests by an unrelenting Opposition as well as the DMK and Trinamool Congress to the FRP. Friday’s meeting, chaired by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, also decided to introduce a Bill next week in this regard while allowing the ordinance to lapse.
The new policy is likely to infuriate mill-owners, a powerful lobby within and outside the government.
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