“Certain sections were pressing for complete withdrawal of the sugarcane ordinance, which would have resulted in a windfall of Rs. 14,000 crore for the sugar mills at the cost of the Central exchequer. Who were they helping? Certainly not the farmers,” he said.
The government had, through the ordinance, brought in a Validation Act that said the calculation of levy sugar price to be paid to millers by the Centre will be based on the minimum price and therefore, the court order based on SAP was negated, saving the government a burden of Rs 14,000 crore. However, by deleting 3B from the Sugarcane Control (Amendment) Order, 2009 and restoring the SAP, the financial burden on the Centre for payment of levy price to millers on the basis of SAP for future years may stand.
“The Bill, which we were thinking of introducing and getting cleared, was to protect the interest of the farmers vis-À-vis the millers. The Fair and Remunerative Price [FRP] is a benchmark price. It is the minimum that millers have to pay,” Mr. Pawar said.