ISLAMABAD - The federal government on Thursday fixed minimum purchasing price of sugarcane for Punjab and Sindh for the forthcoming crushing season that is going to be started from November 1. Federal government has announced that minimum purchasing price of sugarcane would be Rs 80 per 40 kilogram in Punjab and Rs 81 per 40 kg in Sindh province to be effective from November 1, the start of crushing season. As per notification issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, the crushing will start from November 1 in Sindh and on November 15 in Punjab. The sugar mills would be bound to purchase sugarcane from the farmer on the government issued price and the ministry officials said that the government had also intimated the sugar mills to must start the crushing operation on the given dates for the both provinces. The official said that if sugar mills did not get operational on the given dates, the federal government would authorise the local law enforcement agencies to raid on those mills and would heavily fine them. The price decision has been taken keeping in view the increasing costs of agricultural inputs with every passing day that was burdening them and also discouraging to sustain in the agricultural field. On the other side, farmers have a view that the reason behind this increase was not their benefit but it was taken to refrain them from producing the local sugar on their own as the sugarcane production was forecasted very low this year due to industry's atrocities to farmers in the past. Though the officials of MINFAL claimed that they had almost achieved the set target of 2.47 million acres of sugarcane's cultivation yet the farmers from different areas of Pakistan maintain their claim that there has been at least a 30 per cent decrease in the target of the cultivated area. But the government officials insist that the decision has been taken in farmers' interest and government would make it sure that its decision be implemented, they claimed. The government has also asked the trading corporation of Pakistan to procure sugar up to the stock of 7.5 lac tons in case the private sector tries to manipulate the sugar shortage situation to make windfall gains, sources said.