CHANDIGARH: Succumbing to the pressure mounted by the sugarcane growers who have discontinued the supply of produce to sugar mills, the Haryana government on Wednesday announced an increase of Rs 10 in the State Advised Price (SAP).
With this, the SAP in the state will now go to Rs 372.
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar made the announcement on the recommendation of agriculture secretary Sumita Mishra Singh who submitted the report.
Agriculture minister JP Dalal too was present when the CM made the announcement at his camp office.
The announcement has come at a time when farmers have taken out a tractor march across the state, threatening to intensify strike, including boycott of Gohana rally of Union home minister Amit Shah.
Khattar and Haryana BJP chief Om Parkash Dhankar termed the hike as significant.
"Barring Punjab, we are ahead of all the states now," said Dhankar.
Khattar was hopeful of withdrawal of strike by farmers.
Farmer leaders have termed the increase as a gimmick and said that "it is too less and too little" which amounts to the joke cracked on poor farmers.
"This hike of only Rs 10 is really humiliating and we strongly oppose it. Our strike against the government will continue as scheduled," said Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni.
In a related development, traffic movement on the National Highway in Panipat has come to a complete halt for some time on account of the tractor march.
A group of farmers, led by MP Nayab Singh Saini and MLA Ram Karan Kala, greeted Khattar for the announcement during a hurriedly convened meeting at Jat Dharamshala of Kurukshetra
