PONDA: Industries Minister Mahadev Naik said that the government is planning to revive Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, Dharbandora, by modernising and replacing its 40-year-old outdated machinery. It also plans to start a Sanjivani bottled water plant to minimize the losses of the sugar factory and provide employment to its workers who are employed only during the sugarcane season.
The water plant aims to make maximum use of the abundant water and available space at the cooperative sugar factory premises.
Naik was addressing media after inspecting the ongoing work on the Rs 5 crore Sahakar Bhavan which is nearing completion at Curti-Ponda.
The industries minister added that it is difficult to recover the accumulated Rs 74 crore losses of the Sanjivani sugar factory and that there was a need to adopt various measures in order to strengthen the financial position of the cooperative. “Hence government will discard the existing outdated machinery by installing modern machinery for which funding from the Centre will be sought,” he said. He informed that he along with a team of government officials would meet the concerned central minister to demand financial assistance. He said the modernization would cost atleast Rs 20 to 25 crore. He said the bottled water plant would be launched in the next six months at a cost of around Rs 1 crore.
