New Delhi:

The Supreme Court has intervened to halt the opening of a road outside Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence in Chandigarh. The decision, made today, comes as a response to concerns raised by both the Centre and the Punjab government regarding security threats associated with the road’s opening.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta noted that both the Centre and Punjab government have opposed the opening of the road, which has been closed since the 1980s, owing to a threat perception.

The road had been closed due to security reasons during height of terrorism in Punjab, and was set to be reopened on a trial basis.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on April 22 ordered opening of the 500-metre road, connecting Sukhna Lake to Nayagaon in Chandigarh, on a trial basis from May 1.

The High Court’s order had included provisions for the Chandigarh Police to engage traffic experts in formulating a comprehensive traffic management plan for the road, which was intended to be open from 7 am to 7 pm on working days.

Since the closure of the road, people moving between Nayagaon and Sukhna Lake were forced to take long detours via adjacent sectors of the city.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann speaks during the ongoing session of Punjab Legislative Assembly, in Chandigarh on October 3, 2022.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday announced increasing the price of sugarcane to ₹380 per quintal from the existing ₹360 per quintal.

He announced a hike in SAP (State agreed price) of sugarcane on the floor of the Punjab Assembly on the concluding day of its brief session.

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In August 2021, the then Congress government had announced a ₹50 per quintal hike in SAP of sugarcane to ₹360 per quintal.

Mr. Mann said farmers will get an additional ₹20 per quintal under SAP of sugarcane as compared to last year.

With this decision, the State government will spend an additional ₹200 crore annually to benefit the farmers.

Mr. Mann said the farmers of the State eagerly want to adopt sugarcane crop under crop diversification, but they are hesitant for it due to lack of adequate price and timely payment of the crop.

At present, sugarcane is cultivated on just 1.25 lakh hectares of land in Punjab, while the total crushing capacity of sugar mills was around 2.50 lakh hectares. This is why the State government has decided to enhance the price to supplement the income of farmers, he said.

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Informing the House about the present status of the payments, the Chief Minister said the cooperative sugar mills have already paid the entire dues of the farmers but two private sugar mills have not paid the dues yet.

He informed that the owners of these mills have fled from the country, adding that the state government has already initiated the process to confiscate their assets to pay the pending dues of the farmers.