Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and submitted a detailed five-point petition seeking the release of long-pending funds and approvals for key state projects, including AIIMS Raichur, irrigation schemes, sugarcane MSP revision and compensation for flood damage.
According to the petition, the Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to ensure “the establishment of AIIMS in Raichur, fixing of sugarcane prices, release of funds for flood relief of Rs 2100 crore and release of funds for major irrigation projects.”
The CM highlighted the financial stress faced by sugarcane growers, stating that the MSP of sugar has been frozen at Rs 31 per kg, making it difficult for factories to pay farmers.
He said, “Our Government Order (G.O) mandates an additional payment of 100 per ton as a second instalment, over and above the mills’ initial agreed price. To make this viable, the State Government has committed to bear 50% of this additional amount (50 per ton) from the state exchequer, with the mills would be bearing the other ₹50 per ton. This intervention successfully ensures a total net price (excluding H&T costs) of 3,200/ton for the 10.25% recovery baseline and 3,300/ton for the 11.25% recovery rate. This decisive action, which commits state fund, has successfully defused the immediate crisis and brought the protests to a halt. While our G.O. has provided critical relief, it has not fully bridged the gap. The structural problem, in spite our intervention continues to remain given the fact thatthe millers’ inability to pay this price is a direct consequence of the stagnant Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar, which has been frozen at 31 per kg.”
The Chief Minister requests that the following demands be taken into consideration as the sustainable solution:
1. Revise Sugar MSP: The single most effective measure to resolve this crisis is to immediately revise the sugar MSP from 31/kg. This will instantly improve mill liquidity, enabling them to pay the farmers’ requested price without requiring State or Central subsidies.
2. Assured Ethanol Offtake: We request an increased and assured procurement allocation from Karnataka’s sugar-based distilleries. This provides a stable revenue stream and directly supports mill finances.
3. H&T Cost Notification: We continue to seek a Central notification that empowers States to fix or endorse a net cane price, ensuring that the H&T costs are transparently managed and do not render the FRP unviable for the farmer.
Sugar MSP revision is most required welfare measure to both farmers of sugarcane and to sugar Mills as the best of its kind sugar Mills also lingering in losses due to production cost of sugar exceeds heavily than the MSP of Sugar