Calcutta, Oct. 18: Mamata Banerjee today said the government would subsidise by Rs 100 every quintal of jute procured from farmers by the Jute Corporation of India (JCI) from Friday.
Mamata said the decision was taken after Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar informed the state government that the JCI could not increase the minimum support price (MSP) of jute by Rs 400 as requested by her.
She had sent a missive to Pawar on August 21 and got a reply yesterday.
Mamata today wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who also heads the group of ministers that fixes the MSP of agricultural products.
“We have been informed that they would look into the matter. But I cannot let the farmers suffer like this. From Friday, the state government will give a subsidy of Rs 100 on every quintal of jute procured by the JCI, irrespective of its grade,” said Mamata. This would mean that the JCI would pay a farmer Rs 1,800 per quintal of jute.
“We would have liked to give a subsidy of Rs 400 but, considering the present financial condition of the state, we can give a subsidy of Rs 100 only,” she said.
The decision was taken after the chief minister held a meeting with the officials of the agriculture department and the JCI.
Mamata said the MSP of jute, as paid by the JCI, is Rs 1,700 per quintal, while the production cost is Rs 2,200, which is forcing jute farmers to take recourse to distress sale.
“So, to save the farmers from suffering losses, I had requested the central government to increase the MSP by Rs 400,” she added.
Left demands
An eight-member team of the Left Front, led by the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Surjya Kanta Mishra, met agriculture minister Rabindranath Bhattacharya at Writers’ Buildings and submitted a memorandum with a demand to mitigate the sufferings of farmers.
After meeting the agriculture minister, Mishra said: “The JCI should also start purchasing jute from the farmers on priority basis.”
He also demanded that the prices of fertilisers be regulated and the farmers be given subsidy.
The other demands of the Left delegation included sanctioning loans to the farmers at lower rates, exempting flood-affected farmers from loan repayment, distributing seeds for free, preventing black marketing of seeds and fertilisers, taking steps to ensure regular power supply for irrigation and reducing power tariff.
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