Support price of wheat demanded at Rs 700 per quintal

Kanpur, Mar 18 (UNI) Kisan Kamgar Sammelan (KKS) today urged the Uttar Pradesh government to fix the minimum support price of wheat at Rs 700 per quintal.

In a letter to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, KKS president K K Shukla said the UP government had proposed to purchase 27 lakh metric tonnes of wheat at the rate of Rs 650 per quintal, but the production cost had gone up at Rs 950 per quintal due to increase in the input cost.

''Wheat's input cost has gone up due to the increase in prices of diesel, fertiliser, seed and irrigation and the government should announce the support price at the rate of Rs 700 per quintal to compensate the farmers.'' Drawing UP government's attention, he claimed the Centre was purchasing wheat from Australia at a minimum price of 191 Dollars per quintal. ''If the government is paying 191 Dollars (Rs 980 per quintal) to Australia, it should instead help Indian farmers.'' Shukla further urged the CM to waive agricultural loans on the farmers ''as they were unable to repay it for the last five yrs.'' UNI KSP VS KD PM1411