Lucknow, Sep 20 (PTI) Terming Rs 25 hike per quintal in sugarcane price as insufficient", Congress Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda on Thursday demanded from the government to rise it to minimum Rs 400 per quintal.

"The state government has announced hike of Rs 25 per quintal in cane price after which its price is Rs 350 per quintal. It should be raised to minimum Rs 400 per quintal," Hooda, who is also a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member, told reporters here.

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Noting that in 2015-2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set out a target of doubling farmers' income in 2022, Hooda said, "but today the condition is that they have found it difficult to meet the cost of produce".

"In the year 2014, the price of diesel was Rs 40 per litre, which has now increased to Rs 90 per litre. The cost of produce has more than doubled but its value has not increased accordingly," he said.

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Hooda alleged that the farmers have been agitating against the new farm laws for almost 10 months but the government "is not showing any sensitivity" towards their problems.

The government should find a way to withdraw all the three new farm laws, he said. Hooda said that the sight of death seen in Uttar Pradesh during the pandemic shook not only the country but the whole world.

"The actual number of people who died is many times more than the figure shown by the government," he said.

Referring to the case of alleged killing of of Kanpur resident Manish Gupta by police personnel in Gorakhpur district, Hooda said it shows the "inhuman face" of the government.

On the seizure of around 3,000 kg heroin from Gujarat's Mundra port on September 17 and 19, Hooda alleged that the government has so far caught only small fish in the case.

He said that there are many such questions which are yet to be answered.

"After all, why the ports of Gujarat are now becoming the first choice for smugglers and why the government is not taking meaningful steps to bust the smugglers' syndicate?" he asked.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)