Team Herald
PONDA: Calling on the farmers to increase the sugarcane production, the government on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the Sanjivani sugar factor premises to address the grievances and concerns of the affected farmers.
The meeting was held with all stakeholders, which was attended by Deputy Chief Minister and Agriculture Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, Cooperation Minister Govind Gaude, PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar, Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar, government officials and Sugarcane Farmers Association President Rajendra Desai.
The farmers were elated with the government’s approach and plans to change the fortunes of the loss-making factory. Responding to the plea made by the government to increase their sugarcane produce, which is supplied to the factor, the farmers assured that they will do the needful.
“This is part of the measures to rejuvenate Sanjivani sugar factory,” said Cooperation Minister Govind Gaude, while speaking to reporters after the meeting.
He added that the government had assured to solve all their problems. He elaborated about how the farmers face difficulty in harvesting sugarcane, which hampers their production levels and thus the government will supply the farmers sugarcane free of cost to help minimise their expenses. He also added that their pending bills of around 1.8 crore will be paid before Ganesh Chaturthi. He further added that their water shortage issue will be solved and in this regard, a special cell comprising government officials will be formed, which will ensure that water supply to the sugarcane farms are not affected. He also conveyed that the farmers had complained about wild animals damaging their farms.
When asked to comment about the status of the old machinery at the factory, Gaude said that the government spends around Rs 6 crore annually on maintenance fees and similarly around Rs 5 crore on paying the employees their salaries.
“We are conducting a review of all this expenditure. The government is spending crores on the sugar factory every year on repairs. Under such circumstances, the government is left with two options one of which is to replace the old machinery with new machinery and in this regard, we have already sent a proposal to the central government. We will soon visit Delhi for a follow up on this and based on what they say, we will take a decision before September 10,” said Gaude.
He also added that there is a contingency plan in place where the government will step in and take care of the situation if the November crushing season is not possible due to production levels.
Dy CM Chandrakant Kavlekar said that the government will soon make an amendment in the existing agriculture schemes to encourage the farmers to increase their production levels. He said that this will help all farmers, including sugarcane farmers as well as those involved in other agricultural produce and allied activities so that they get the benefits of the scheme.
He added that the government will provide financial assistance to farmers who lost their crops during the floods in Goa.
PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar who is also the local MLA expressed happiness over the outcome of the meeting of the stakeholders. He said farmers are currently supplying around 40 thousand metric tonnes of sugarcane and that they have given target to increase it to one lakh metric tonnes in the interest of the beleaguered Sanjivani Sugar Factory. He said that they had been given a time period of five years to achieve the same.
The president of the Sugarcane Farmers Association, Rajendra Desai acknowledged that before the meeting could begin, they were panicking as there was uncertainty over the future of the factory.
“But after the meeting, we are happy and feel lucky that such a meeting was held with us directly. We assured the government to increase our sugarcane production from 37000 metric tonnes to 50,000 metric tonnes every year. They also assured to clear our bills in 15 days after the supply of sugarcane,” he added.
