Notwithstanding the fiscal crisis in the state, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has decided to hike the State Agreed Price (SAP) of sugarcane in the interest of the cane growers.It has been decided to increase the SAP by Rs 10 per quintal for the crushing season 2017-18, an official spokesperson said, adding that the Chief Minister was in favour of the hike which, coupled with farm loan waiver, would go a long way in alleviating the woes of the state’s farmers. The entire council of ministers endorsed the Chief Minister’s views and decided to go in for the hike.The cabinet decided to increase SAP from Rs.300 to Rs.310 for early variety, Rs.290 to Rs.300 for mid variety and Rs.285 to Rs.295 per quintal for late variety. The hike, in line with the increase given by Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, was estimated to put an additional burden of Rs.20 crore on the state exchequer.According to the spokesperson, a total quantity of 675 lac quintal of sugarcane was expected to arrive in 16 sugar mills, including nine in cooperative and seven in private sector, during the current crushing season.The cabinet decision followed detailed parleys between the Cabinet sub-committee headed by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and the representatives of various Sugarcane Grower Unions and Associations from across the state, who met here this morning at Kisan Bhawan.The other members of the sub-committee were MLAs Pargat Singh and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria. The meeting was also attended by the Special Secretary Agriculture Vikas Garg, Cane Commissioner Jaswant Singh, Assistant Cane Commissioner Vijay Mehta and Agriculture Development Officer Gurpal Singh.Representatives of various cane growers associations, including Kulwant Singh Sandhu from Rurka Kalan, Satnam Singh Sahni from Phagwara, Jaswant Singh from Pathankot, Balwant Singh from Jalandhar, Satnam Singh from Ajnala, besides a delegation of 16 cane growers led by Balkar Singh from Phillaur, also attended the meeting.