Unable to break the deadlock over cane price fixation, the Uttar Pradesh government is trying to talk with the industry afresh. It is learnt that CM Akhilesh Yadav has sought to meet industry honchos on Sunday and has asked his officials to come up with ways to break the impasse.

According to sources in the sugar department, while the government plans to meet the industry’s demand, it is also expecting that the industry, too, would reconsider its stand in the interest of the sector, the state and the farmers.

Among the options to help the industry is a waiver in society commission tax that the industry pays, which is R5 per quintal. For the 800 lakh quintals that the industry is expected to crush in UP, this amount works out to be R350 crore. This will ease a lot of burden for the sector, feel officials.

Meanwhile, the chief minister said at a public rally in Bareilly on Thursday that his government is concerned about the sugar scenario in the state and is trying to balance it out. “We have not increased cane prices from last year. We do not want them to incur losses. It is very important for us that the mills operate, but the fate of millions of farmers is also associated with it. We have to think about them too. We need to balance the situation, but at the same time, the industry too has to stop thinking of its own profits only and think beyond it,” he said.

Speaking to FE, principal secretary Rahul Bhatnagar said while the government is looking at ways to deal with the situation, the industry, too, should do a soul-searching. “In our interactions with the industry on various occasions, members of Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) had said that while the industry is in bad shape, they would be very satisfied if the government does not hike the cane price further and keeps it to last year’s levels. But, subsequently, they said the industry would be able to pay R240/quintal and later reduced it to R225/quintal,” he said.