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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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
