News Published : 22 नोव्हेंबरपासून राज्यात साखर कारखान्यांचा ऊस गळीत हंगाम

साखर संघाची बैठक राज्यपाल भगतसिंह कोश्यारी यांच्याशी प्रश्नांवर चर्चा

हिंगोली : राज्यात ता. २२ नोव्हेंबरपासून ऊस गळीत हंगामाला सुरवात होणार असून या संदर्भातील निर्णय राज्यपाल भगतसिंह कोश्यारी यांच्या उपस्थितीत राज्य साखर संघाच्या बैठकीत मंगळवारी (ता.१९) घेण्यात आला आहे. याबैठकीत राज्यातील साखर कारखान्यांच्या प्रश्नावरही चर्चा झाली आहे. 

राज्यात सहकारी तत्वावर चालणारे १०२ साखर कारखाने असून ९३ खासगी साखर कारखाने आहेत. यावर्षी १६३ कारखान्यांनी ऊस गाळपाची परवानगी मागितली आहे. मात्र दुष्काळी परिस्थितीमुळे साखर कारखान्यांना गाळपासाठी ऊस मिळणेच कठीण आहे. मागील वर्षी या कारखान्यांना गाळपासाठी एक हजार लाख टन ऊस मिळाला होता. मात्र या वर्षी केवळ साडेपाचशे लाख टन उस गाळपासाठी मिळणार आहेत. त्यामुळे सुमारे दीडशे कारखान्यांना ऊस गाळपाची परवानगी मिळणार असल्याची शक्यता सूत्रांनी व्यक्त केली आहे. 

दरम्यान, कारखान्यांच्या ऊस गाळपासंदर्भातील निर्णय मंत्री समितीच्या बैठकीत घेतले जातात. मात्र यावेळी मंत्री समिती नसल्यामुळे राज्यपाल भगतसिंह कोश्यारी यांच्याकडे राज्य साखर संघाने पत्र दिले होते. त्यानुसार मंगळवारी राजभवनात राज्यपाल कोश्यारी यांच्या उपस्थितीत बैठक झाली. यावेळी राज्य साखर संघाचे अध्यक्ष जयप्रकाश दांडेगावकर, कार्यकारी संचालक संजय खताळ, राज्य सहकारी बँकेचे अध्यक्ष विद्याधर अनासकर, अजित देशमुख यांच्यासह इतर मान्यवरांची उपस्थिती होती. 

याबैठकीत राज्यातील गळीत हंगाम ता. २२ नोव्हेंबरपासून सुरू करण्याचा निर्णय घेण्यात आला आहे. यावेळी श्री. दांडेगावकर यांनी राज्यातील साखर कारखान्यांच्या अडचणीचे मुद्दे मांडले. मागील वर्षी केंद्राच्या धोरणानुसार साखर निर्यातीचे तेराशे कोटी रुपये अद्यापही येणे बाकी आहे. तसेच राज्य शासनाकडून कारखान्याच्या सॉफ्ट लोनचे तीन वर्षांचे थकीत असलेले सुमारे नऊशे कोटी रुपयांचे व्याज मिळावे अशी अपेक्षा व्यक्त केली. यावेळी राज्यपाल श्री. कोश्यारी यांनी या संदर्भातील प्रश्न नवीन सरकारच हाताळेल, असे सांगितले. 

८० ते शंभर दिवस चालणार गाळप 

राज्यात यावर्षी दुष्काळी परिस्थितीमुळे साखर कारखान्यांना गाळपासाठी ऊस मिळणे कठीण आहे. त्याचा परिणाम गळीत हंगामावर होणार असून यावर्षी केवळ ८० ते शंभर दिवसच ऊस गाळप करता येणे शक्य होणार आहे. जयप्रकाश दांडेगावकर, अध्यक्ष, राज्य साखर संघ

News Published : गाळप हंगाम

News Published : Maharashtra gets Governor’s nod to start sugar season from Nov 22

Maharashtra sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad had recommended that crushing may begin on November 25 but Koshiyari advanced the date by three days after he held a meeting with sugar millers.

Maharashtra’s sugar season will commence from November 22 with governor BS Koshiyari on Tuesday giving the green signal for start of cane crushing. Due to the President’s rule in the state, this is probably the first time that the decision on the commencement of the crushing season has been taken by the governor.

Maharashtra sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad had recommended that crushing may begin on November 25 but Koshiyari advanced the date by three days after he held a meeting with sugar millers.

The season is already delayed by a month due to unseasonal rains which flooded cane fields. It is expected to last 70-90 days against the average of 120 days.

In view of government guarantees and share capital given to sugar factories, the governor has also approved that 50% per quintal should be tagged and given back as recovery to the government, the commissioner said.

Sanjay Khatal, MD, Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation, who was present for the meeting, said that several demands were placed before the government including restructuring of millers’ loans.

Khatal pointed out that banks have expressed their inability to fund pre-seasonal loans to sugar factories on the grounds that the sectoral exposure limit was over. Applications of 70-75 factories for pre-seasonal loans have not been approved, he said. Millers have also sought Rs 350 per tonne as recovery due to the losses caused because of rains. The governor suggested that these issues should be placed before ministers after the new government is formed in the state, he said.

During the meeting, sugar mill owners sought a reduction in their contribution to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, he said. One of the main sources of cash flow for the CM’s Relief Fund is a Rs 4 cess on every quintal of sugarcane crushed by sugar factories. The cess generates Rs 25 crore every year. However, with sugar factories themselves facing distress, their contributions have been slow in coming.

As per government estimates, a 45% fall in sugar output is on the cards. The drought in Marathwada last year and floods in the sugar belt of western Maharashtra in July-August led to a drop from 107 lakh tonne last year to 58 lakh tonne this year.

Gaikwad, in a presentation made before the governor, stated that the sugar stock in hand is currently to the tune of 70 lakh tonne. The state needs around 35 lakh tonne for domestic consumption, he added.

This season, cane grown on 8.32 lakh hectare is expected to be crushed to produce 58.23 lakh tonne of the sweetener. Gaikwad estimated that 162 mills would crush 570 lakh tonne cane. Last season, 195 mills crushed 952.60 lakh tonne cane, producing 107.1 lakh tonne of sugar, the maximum amount ever produced in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile the Western India Sugar Millers Association (WISMA) has sent a protest letter to the government questioning why they were not invited to the meeting between millers, officials and governor. WISMA president BB Thombare pointed out that no invite was sent to the association and they were told that a protocol is to be followed for a meeting with the governor.

WISMA has been part of such meetings for the last four years and private mills contribute 50% to the state’s sugar output, he said.

Farmer groups are demanding a hike in the price paid to them by millers. The fair and remunerative price (FRP) is Rs 2,750 per tonne and we are seeking compensation over and above the FRP as farmers have suffered losses due to floods, said Swabhimaani Shetkari Sanghtana (SSS) founder Raju Shetti.

The sugar industry is demanding that factories be allowed to pay the government-controlled FRP in three instalments, a request rejected by the SSS that is not letting crushing operations begin in Kolhapur. Khatal said that farmer bodies and farmers should take a lenient view since the industry is in financial distress.

https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/maharashtra-gets-governors-nod-to-start-sugar-season-from-nov-22/1769554/ 

News Published : Maharashtra allows sugar mills to start crushing cane from Fri

 Tuesday, Nov 19

NEW DELHI – Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari today allowed sugar mills in the state to start crushing operations for 2019-20 (Oct-Sep) from Friday, state's Sugar Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said.

While the sugar commissionerate had recommended Nov 25 as the date for start of crushing cane, Shetkari Sahakari Sangh had requested for a date before that, Gaikwad said.

"…because Gujarat and Karnataka have started making sugar and they (Shetkari Sahakari Sangh) feel that labourers would be sitting idle," Gaikwad said.

Traditionally, a ministerial committee headed by the chief minister consults the sugar commissionerate and the industry in September and decide on a date from when mills can start operations, which is usually after Diwali.

The process was delayed this season as a government could not be formed in the state after the recent elections threw a hung assembly. The state is currently under the President's Rule.

Of the total 195 mills in the state, only 105 mills have issued licences to crush cane so far.

The state is likely to produce less sugar this season due to low availability of cane following drought last year and heavy rainfall in late July and October this year. This is also likely to reduce cane crushing duration to 70-80 days against the usual of 140-150 days.

Production of sugar in Maharashtra is seen falling to 5.8 mln tn from 10.7 mln tn in the last season.

http://www.cogencis.com/newssection/maharashtra-allows-sugar-mills-to-start-crushing-cane-from-fri/

News Published : Maharashtra’s Sugar Commissionerate cracks the whip to make mills pay up dues

On July 31, a judgment by India’s apex court jolted the Maharashtra government, especially the officials in the state’s Sugar Commissionerate. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank that stated that the state government does not have a legal claim on the Rs 2,000 crore that it had given to 34 cooperative sugar mills. These 34 mills had gone defunct and when the MSC Bank sought to auction them and get back its dues, the state government wanted its dues as well. But the apex court ruled that the state government did not have its papers in order.

The background to this issue is that, in Maharashtra, governments have, since the start of the cooperative movement, invested three-times the money that promoters of a sugar cooperative mill have raised from their shareholders. But as Maharashtra’s Sugar Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad realised in July, the paperwork for this investment was inadequate. A big reason for this lacunae is the heavy political interference in the way sugar mills and indeed the whole sugar economy runs. Because many politicians also own the mills, the government has historically been lax in asserting its rights as an investor. This inefficiency eventually cost the government in the MSC Bank case.

What Gaikwad also realised was that among the 102 cooperative mills that were still in operation, another Rs 3,000 was owed to the government. And he set about to get this matter sorted.

Technically, the government’s investment was in the form of a loan which was supposed to be paid back after a definite period of time. But not only was the money never repaid, but it also was not even secured.

In an order Gaikwad gave in September, he laid out a timeline to get the matter sorted. By November, officials were to ascertain the government’s dues. Between April and May every year, the government auditors will check the status of the repayment and update the same on the land records. Mills would be intimated of their yearly repayment amount by July every year. “Failure of the mill to adhere to the repayment schedule will see action under Land revenue codes, which will allow government to take possession and auction off the properties to recover dues,” explained Gaikwad.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/maharashtras-sugar-commissionerate-cracks-the-whip-to-make-mills-pay-up-dues-6090709/