PONDA: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) closure notice to Sanjivani factory at Dharbandora for not installing pollution monitoring system has come as a shock to the sugarcane farmers, who are now worried about their survival and their families.
The Central Pollution Control Board move has left the farmers in a spot of bother, who now hope that government would come out with a solution to the crisis.
Their main goal is to get Central Pollution Control Board’s closure order revoked and secondly to ensure that the sugarcane crushing season begins immediately.
They have blamed the government for not taking necessary measures on time despite the CPCB alerting the State in 2017 to install the continuous monitoring system for effluent and stack emissions under Environment Protection Act.
The farmers now fear that the government may comply with the CPCB notice by closing the Sanjivani factory, which has been incurring losses.
According to farmers, spending Rs 65 lakh to install pollution monitoring system is not a huge cost as they claim that it (government) spends lots of money for irrelevant purposes.
It is learnt that though the factory had demanded relaxation from installing pollution monitoring system on grounds that it only operates for four months compared to other sugar factories, the CPCB is firm on its stand.
It is learnt that the livelihood of around 1200 sugarcane farmers from various talukas across Goa depends on this factory, which operates for only four months. Every year the crushing season commences in the first week of November and this year the season is delayed more than 15 days as government has failed to release the funds for annual maintenance of the factory machinery.
The farmers fear if the season gets delayed further or if the factory is closed they will not only lose their livelihood permanently but the sugarcane would lose its value.
In the first week of November, the farmers had demanded a hike of Rs 1000 per tonne from the existing Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 as they had claimed that the existing rate was not affordable to them due to rising cost. They had even demanded that the government pay Rs 600 for cutting sugarcane per tonne from existing Rs 200 to Rs 400. However, they claimed that these demands have been pending with the Cooperation Department.
Since many decades the factory has been incurring losses.
According to a source, Goan farmers produce around 50,000 to 60,000 metric tonnes of sugarcane while more than 50 per cent is imported from Karnataka.
