NEW DELHI: Under pressure from its own MPs over non-payment of arrears to sugarcane farmers by mill owners, the government on Friday said it is committed to helping farmers and thus had made provisions to provide Rs 6,600 crore soft loan to enable payment to farmers.

It also said it was going to increase the export subsidy on raw sugar to Rs 3,371 per tonne during August-September period, compared to Rs 3,300 per tonne fixed for the previous two months.

BJP MPs from UP on Friday initiated a forceful discussion over the issue and demanded answers from the government. Baghpat MP Satyapal Singh, who first raised the issue through a calling attention motion, indicated that the government was biased towards mill owners and did not care about farmers as over Rs 9,000 crore in dues to farmers was still pending.