Cabinet clears Rs 5,538-cr package for sugar industry
New Delhi, Sep 26 : The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs 5,538-crore package as part of a comprehensive policy for the sugar industry to deal with the surplus domestic stock and help mills clear dues of cane growers.
The policy seeks to offset the cost of cane crushed and provide transport subsidy for sugar export to help the industry improve its liquidity to clear the dues.
Addressing the media here, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the policy's objective is to deal with the excess sugar due to higher production in the coming season.
"One of the points (of the policy) talks about providing assistance to sugar mills by defraying expenditure towards internal transport, freight handling and other charges to facilitate export during the sugar season (2018-19)," he said.
"Another one is to provide assistance to sugar mills at the rate of Rs 13.88 per quintal of cane crushed during the 2018-19 season to offset the cost of cane itself."
The total expenditure to clear cane dues and transport subsidy would be Rs 4,163 crore and Rs 1,375 crore, respectively.
Assistance amount under both heads would be credited directly into the farmers' accounts to ensure payment of sugarcane dues by the mills, and if there is any subsequent balance it would be credited into mills' accounts, as per a release.
Assistance would be provided to those mills which fulfil the eligibility conditions as decided by the government.
The transport subsidy will be Rs 1,000 per tonne of sugar for mills located within 100 km from ports, Rs 2,500 per tonne for mills located beyond 100 km from the ports in the coastal states and Rs 3,000 per tonne for mills located in other than coastal states or actual expenditure, whichever is lower.
The liquidity position of sugar mills was adversely affected in sugar season 2017-18 due to depressed market sentiments and crash in sugar prices, which led to accumulation of cane price dues of cane farmers to an alarming level of about Rs 23,232 crore in May this year.
In order to stabilise sugar prices at a reasonable level and to improve the liquidity position of the mills to enable them to clear the arrears, over the last one year the Central government has already taken certain measures that include hike in import duty to 100 per cent, zero export duty and creation of buffer stock.
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Mathura boat capsize tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13
Mathura (UP)(PTI): With the recovery of two more bodies on Sunday, the death toll in the boat capsize incident in the Yamuna river in Mathura has climbed to 13, officials said on Sunday.
Search for three more missing persons is underway.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Suresh Chandra Rawat said renewed search efforts led to the recovery of the body of a college student, identified as Dinki Bansal, near Devraha Baba Ghat and that of a man identified as Rishabh Sharma approximately 3 km away from the accident site.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when a boat carrying over two dozen tourists, primarily from Punjab, hit a floating drum of a pontoon bridge and capsized near Kesi Ghat in Vrindavan.
Most of the victims were from Jagraon and Dugri areas of Ludhiana district.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) along with the district administration and local police were actively engaged in the search for the missing pilgrims.
However, strong currents of the Yamuna river and the significant depth of the water at the ghats are proving a hindrance.
Circle Officer (Mant) Sandeep Singh said the Yamuna river stretch extending from Keshi Ghat to Gokul Barrage has been divided into seven sectors.
The search for the missing individuals will now be conducted within this specific 20-square-km zone. A Station House Officer (SHO) has been designated as the in-charge for each sector.
Acting on the orders of the DIG (Agra Range), seven SHOs will oversee operations across the seven sectors of river Yamuna.
Giving details about the operation, Additional District Magistrate (Finance and Revenue) Pankaj Kumar Verma, citing NDRF officials, on Saturday had said although the search for the missing persons is currently focused within a 14-km radius from the spot where the boat had capsized, there is a possibility that they may have been swept much further downstream.
SHO of Vrindavan police station Sanjay Pandey said boat operator Pappu was arrested late on Friday night.
He is accused of failing to provide life jackets to passengers before allowing them to board the boat, and operating the boat at high speed. This resulted in the boat losing control and colliding with a pontoon bridge's drum, which led to the accident, officials said.
Police have registered a case and also arrested the contractor, Narayan Sharma, responsible for the repair work on the pontoon bridge.
Rawat said that on Friday evening, police registered a case under section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the boatman Pappu (alias Dauji) and Sharma, and subsequently arrested them.
According to the case details, Pappu's boat did not have any safety equipment or provisions whatsoever.
Moreover, despite repeated pleas from pilgrims, Pappu operated the boat at high speed. By the time he realised the danger upon approaching the pontoons of the bridge, it was already too late.
Consequently, after colliding with a pontoon drum, the boat lost control and capsized. It has also come to light that he is among those operators who have not obtained the requisite license to operate a boat.
Sharma was carrying out the work of dismantling and reassembling the pontoon bridge without providing any prior notification.
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