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

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

According to Sugarcane Commissioner Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, out of the 119 sugar mills, 18 have completed the sugarcane crushing work and thereafter have been closed, while 101 sugar mills are still operational. Further, in a release, he said, "In the 2019-20 season, till now 9320.83 lakh ton sugarcane has been crushed which has produced 1054.09 lakh quintal sugar which is 2.65 percent more than the sugar produced in the last season." In the 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 the sugar mills. According to the Sugarcane Commissioner, strict rules due to the lockdown will be enforced at the buying stations. Apart from this, UP Chief Minister has also urged for relief from lockdown to harvest crops. According to him, the UP government would encourage institutions and agencies to purchase food grains directly from the growers at minimum support price (MSP) or higher.

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India under lockdown

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

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

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(With ANI Inputs)