Sugar mills to remain open till entire crop of farmers is bought, assures Uttar Pradesh CM

Amid Coronavirus crisis, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday gave an assurance to sugarcane farmers over selling of ir crops. Chief Minister assured  sugarcane farmers that sugar mills will remain open till time entire sugarcane crop is bought. Reportedly, he has also directed Sugar Industry Minister Suresh Rana to monitor sugar mills. 

According to Sugarcane Commissioner Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, out of 119 sugar mills, 18 have completed sugarcane crushing work and reafter have been closed, while 101 sugar mills are still operational. Furr, in a release, he said, "In 2019-20 season, till w 9320.83 lakh ton sugarcane has been crushed which has produced 1054.09 lakh quintal sugar which is 2.65 percent more than sugar produced in last season." In 2018-19 season, 8958.43 lakh ton sugarcane was crushed to produce 1026.84 lakh quintal sugar, he added. 

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Reportedly, only 15 percent of sugarcane is left to be supplied to sugar mills. According to Sugarcane Commissioner, strict rules due to lockdown will be enforced at buying stations. Apart from this, UP Chief Minister has also urged for relief from lockdown to harvest crops. According to him, UP government would encour institutions and ncies to purchase food grains directly from growers at minimum support price (MSP) or higher.

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India under lockdown

Due to Coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 had anunced a 21-day nationwide lockdown to check spread of deadly coronavirus, stating that "social distancing" is only way to contain disease which is spreading rapidly across world. As India's total case count crossed 8,000 mark, Centre is considering a two-week extension of lockdown currently in effect across country.

Meanwhile, PM Modi held a video conference with states' Chief Ministers to discuss situation and get ir feedback on wher 21-day shutdown should be extended. Following meeting, Telangana, Maharashtra and West Bengal became latest states to extend lockdown period, after similar moves by Odisha and Punjab earlier this week.

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(With ANI Inputs)