Haryana session: Cong stages walk out over sugarcane prices; Khattar says panel formed to fix rates

Congress members staged a walkout from the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday over the failure of the state government to increase sugarcane prices even as Chief Minister M L Khattar announced the formation of a price fixation panel.

Congress members staged a walkout from the Haryana Assembly on Wednesday over the failure of the state government to increase sugarcane prices even as Chief Minister M L Khattar announced the formation of a price fixation panel. On the concluding day of the three-day winter session, Khattar and leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda targeted each other in verse after the former raised the issue of cane prices.

First Hooda read out a poem while targeting the BJP-JJP government and in response, Khattar also replied through his poem.

Both the leaders again exchanged some more poetry, drawing applause from the members of the treasury and opposition benches. Later, Hooda said he was demanding an increase in the sugarcane procurement prices, saying farmers are facing losses due to rise in input cost.

The former chief minister said farmers are demanding that the rate of sugarcane should be Rs 450 per quintal.

He asked the CM to bring the cane rate at par with that of Punjab. ''Make it equal to the rate of cane in Punjab,'' Hooda asked Khattar.

''Make an announcement of an increase in cane price today. It is a serious issue,'' Hooda asked the CM.

The CM apprised the House that there are nine cooperatives and three private sugar mills operational in the state.

The government gives assistance to the cooperative mills so that the payment of sugarcane can be made on time. There are no dues pending of any co-operative sugar mill in Haryana, informed Khattar.

He made an announcement regarding formation of the committee to fix the price of sugarcane for this crushing season, which will assess the performance of sugar mills and submit its report in 15 days.

After this, the prices of sugarcane will be announced, said Khattar, noting that the price of cane in Haryana has always been higher as compared to other states.

The Congress MLAs staged a walkout in protest as no announcement were made on sugarcane rate increase.

At present, the cane price in Haryana stands at Rs 362 per quintal.

In a statement later, the Haryana Congress said till 2005, the rate of sugarcane in the state was Rs 117 per quintal and it was increased by Rs 193 to Rs 310 during the Congress tenure.

''The rate of sugarcane was increased almost three times, 165 per cent during the Congress government and this amounts to an annual increase of about 18.3 per cent,'' said Hooda in a party statement. ''The BJP and BJP-JJP government increased the rate of sugarcane by only 17 per cent in eight years, an annual increase of just 2.1 per cent. The BJP-JJP government is not anywhere close to the rate hike given during the Congress government,'' he claimed. Earlier, during the exchange of poetry, Hooda said, ''chaman ko seenchen mein kuch patiya jhar gayee hongi, yehi ilzaam lag raha hai hum par bewafai ka, arre chaman ko raund dala jinhone ne apne pairon se, wohi dawa kar rahe hain apni rehnumai ka' (Some leaves must have fallen in watering a garden, here we are being accused of disloyalty, who trampled the garden with their feet, they are claiming to be its saviours).

To this, Khattar replied, ''jise nibha na sakun aias vaada nahin karta, mein baat apni seema se zayada nahin karta, tamman rakhta hun aasman chhu lene ki, lekin auron ko girane ka irada nahin rakhta' (I do not promise which I cannot fulfill, I do not say anything beyond my limit. I aspire to touch the sky, but I cannot make people fall).

Both the leaders exchanged more poetries targeting the policies of their tenure's.