The Union cabinet on We­d­nesday didn’t consider Rs 4,500 crore plan to more than double the production assistance paid to sugarcane farmers and transport subsidy to sugar exporting mills.

The cabinet committee on economic affairs may ta­ke up the food ministry’s pr­o­posal next week, sources said. The ministry has proposed sharp increase in production assistance to farmers to Rs 13.88 per quintal for 2018-19 marketing year (October-September) from Rs 5.5 per quintal at present.

The proposal to raise prod­uction assistance and tran­s­port subsidy  of Rs 3,000 per tonne to mills for exports of 5 million tonnes of surplus sugar is part of the governm­ent plan to clear over Rs 13,500 crore arrears sugar mills have towards farmers.