Amit Shah positive on hiking sugar MSP, raising ethanol quota: Fadnavis

Pune: Home minister Amit Shah is positive about raising the minimum selling price of sugar and increasing the ethanol quota for sugar mills, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday. The Centre has also agreed to buy onions from farmers instead of traders in the ongoing government procurement operations, and has also promised to take decisions to prop up the subdued price of onion, the minister told reporters.

Fadnavis' remarks followed his meeting with Shah, agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi in Delhi the same day. His deputy chief ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar also attended the meeting.

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While onion farmers have been protesting in Nashik for the last two to three weeks, the sugar industry has been under pressure to pay sugarcane arrears.

"We had a very positive discussion on sugar. We discussed the issue of increasing the minimum selling price of sugar, increasing the ethanol quota allocated to the sugar industry, implementing dual price mechanism, loan restructuring and paying the interest-subvention to the mills," said Fadnavis, adding, "He has accepted that the MSP of sugar needs to be increased."

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According to Fadnavis, Shah also "promised to take a decision on increasing the ethanol quota allocated to sugar mills in the next two months, to make immediate payment of interest subvention and to work with the state government to help with the loan restructuring".

Shah has asked the state government to make a proposal about interest subvention of sugar mills.

"We have already worked on it and will soon submit it. If it gets approved, then it will help solve a lot of issues in our sugar industry," said Fadnavis. "We had a positive discussion about it."