Sugarcane rate hike cruel joke with farmers: Hooda
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today that the BJP had once again played a cruel joke with sugarcane farmers as the government had marginally increased sugarcane rates by Rs 14.
He further said that in view of the increasing cost of farming, the rate should be more than Rs 450 per quintal today. But despite being in power for 10 years, the BJP has raised the rate to just Rs 386.
The former Chief Minister said the rates of fertilisers, seeds, medicines, tractor parts, farming equipment, diesel and labour had increased several times, compared to the increase carried out by the BJP government in sugarcane prices. He dismissed the increase as insignificant.
There was a record-breaking increase in the rate of sugarcane during the Congress government. When the Congress came to power in the state, the price of sugarcane in 2005 was only Rs 117, but the Congress increased the rate by almost 3 times, 165 per cent in its nine-and-a-half-year tenure, taking the rate to Rs 310.
The BJP, however, increased the rate of sugarcane by only 24 per cent in its entire tenure. Hooda said the Congress used to increase the rate by 24 per cent in just one year, as much as the BJP has done in 10 years.
