April 7, 2022 4:05:35 am
In case mills end their operation without crushing all standing cane, the state government is expected to pay compensation to farmers. Cooperation Minister Balasaheb Patil will hold a meeting with the State Sugar Commissioner and representatives of sugar mills across the state on Thursday. The purpose of the meeting will be to decide on financial help to be given to mills to crush excess sugarcane in Marathwada.
Mills have indicated that as much as 25 lakh tonnes cane remains to be crushed although the season for other regions is almost over. Of the 198 mills that have started operations this season, only 34 have closed their operations by April 5. Of these, 26 are in the Kolhapur region (districts of Kolhapur and Sangli), six in Solapur (Solapur and Osmanabad) and one each in Aurangabad (Aurangabad, Jalna and Beed) and Nagpur (Nagpur Wardha and Bhandara). Mills have crushed 1,162.88 lakh tonnes of cane and produced 121.04 lakh tonnes of sugar.
In Marathwada, Jalna (4 lakh tonnes), Beed (4 lakh tonnes) Osmanabad (3 lakh tonnes) Latur (1.5 lakh tonnes) Aurangabad (2 lakh tonnes) and Parbhani (1.5 lakh tonnes) are the major districts where farmers have complained about excess cane and demanded financial help to crush cane from outside their catchment area.
In case mills end their operation without crushing all standing cane, the state government is expected to pay compensation to farmers. In 2010-11 season, a similar problem had come up that saw mills being paid Rs 3 per tonne of cane transported from every 50 km outside their area of operation. Private mills have asked for similar financial help to complete crushing.
Like other parts of the country, summer has set in fast in most parts of the state with temperatures crossing 40 degrees Celsius. Farmers in Marathwada have complained about standing cane wilting away due to the extremely high temperature. The problem in Marathawada is more serious as some of the major mills had started their season late due to financial constraints. Kisan Sabha and other farm bodies have staged multiple agitations to draw attention to this problem.
Thursday’s meeting is expected to see this matter being discussed at details. A final decision about financial help is also expected to be made, according to sources. Meanwhile, mills said their harvesting staff have started going home.
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