Jalandhar, November 20
The sugarcane crushing season started today. Sukhvir Singh Vahla, chairman, Sugarfed Punjab, said the Cooperative Sugar Mills of the state had set a target of crushing of 1.75 crore sugarcane. He said the target would be met easily since a bumper crop was expected this year.

The state government had increased the state advisory price (SAP) of sugarcane crop to Rs 295 this year. All the cooperative and private mills had been directed to pay the new rates to sugarcane producers.

Vahla exhorted private players to operate their mills soon so the farmers could sow wheat crop after harvesting the sugarcane crop. He said private mills crushed 75 per cent of the total sugarcane produced.

J Ranjit Singh Jhinger, chairman, Nawanshahr Sugar Mill, said the mill was expecting an arrival of 35 lakh quintal of sugarcane. The mill management also honoured the first five farmers to have supplied the sugarcane.