Amid the coronavirus pandemic, most of the industries have been hit and many have even shutdown. In Maharashtra, sugar industry is one of the worst hit industry even before coronavirus came into existence. And now, it has become worse.
Therefore, to tackle the crisis, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has written to PM Modi requesting him to take this into consideration and plan out relief measures for the crisis hit sugar industry.
He writes," I am earnestly requesting for your urgent intervention to bail out sugar industry from crisis aggravated exponentially by unprecedented nationwide lockdown in the wake of pandemic Covid-19."
He added, "Even before the lockdown, you were kind enough to take some important policy initiatives like MSP, Export of Sugar, Buffer Stock and Interest Subvention on Capex for Ethanol production duly supported by financial measures."
As Covid-19 crisis is worsening day by day, he adds, some immediate relief measures have been suggested by the federation. Following are the measures, Pawar requested to take into account;
1. Provision of funds for clearing export incentives and buffer stock expenses pending since 2018-19 and 2019-20.
2. Increasing MSP of Sugar ranging from Rs 3450 to Rs 3750 with grade wise increment.
3. Provision of one time grant of Rs 650 per tonne on average cane crushed during the last two years.
4. Conversion of outstanding Working capital into Short term loan and rescheduling all term loans for 10 years with a moratorium of two years on the lines of Mitra Committee recommendations.
5. Treating sugar mills' distilleries as Strategic Business Units ( SBUs) and on Stand Alone basis the banks should finance the Ethanol Projects sanctioned under the Interest Subvention Capex Scheme announced by the Central Government in 2018.
"I shall be grateful if you personally look into the matter and initiate necessary relief measures to resolve the crisis worsened due to Pandemic Covid-19," he added.
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