Mumbai: The crushing season of the sugar factories in Maharashtra will begin from November 22. This decision was taken in the high-level meeting chaired by the Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Moreover, Maharashtra has become the first state to recover 99 percent dues of sugarcane growers from the sugar mills. This was a special initiative by the sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad and in fact, after independence, this is the first-ever recovery from the sugar mills.
Every year, the date of crushing is decided by a high-power committee headed by the chief minister. But this year, since no party has staked claim to form a government as yet, the President’s rule has been implemented which caused a delay in finalising the crushing date.
After the farmers and the owners of sugar mills drew the government’s attention to the problems likely to be caused due to the delay in crushing, the Governor called an urgent meeting on Tuesday.
“The sugar cooperative mills federation proposed December 1 as the date to start the crushing, while the sugar commissioner proposed November 25.
But the directors of the sugar cooperatives and owners were pressing for November 22, since the teams of sugar-cane cutting labourers have already begun arriving on the mill premises.
These labourers are now waiting for the work to begin. Thereafter, the Governor approved November 22 as the date to start crushing,” said Gaikwad.
In 2018, there were 195 sugar mills, cooperative and private, crushed sugar-cane and produced 107 lakh metric tonnes. This year, only 162 sugar mills have applied for the permission to start crushing. Even among these, approximately 20 to 30 sugar mills may not be eligible for this process, he added.
In fact, this year, there will be at least 50 per cent less sugar production. This will not impact the sugar quota of Maharashtra, which already has sufficient sugar supply for the next two years.
“Since there is almost 50 percent less sugarcane available for crushing, this year, the production too will decrease by 50 per cent as compared to last year. In 2018, the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugar was Rs 2,750 per tonne.
But due to severe drought in the state, the government offered them more than Rs 3000 per tonne and supplied this sugar-cane to 1400 cattle camps in the state. This has impacted the the availability of sugarcane in the state,” Gaikwad added.
