PANJIM: The sugarcane farmers on Tuesday withdrew their protest after the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated that a contractor will be taken onboard for Sanjivani Sugar Factory redevelopment within next three months and that redevelopment will be completed within a year. Request For Qualification (RFQ) for this has already been floated, he added.
“Farmers want the factory to be started, we will start it. Since the factory was closed down, we have paid sugarcane farmers compensation of Rs 30 crore, irrespective of whether they have grown the sugarcane or not,” Sawant said adding,
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Stating that compensation payment commitment was for five years, by then the factory was expected to restart, Sawant said, “I fail to understand as to why they resorted to protest and who instigated them.”
The factory was shut by the government in 2019-2020 on grounds of recurring mechanical problems, non-availability of spare parts and shortage of local sugarcane.
After withdrawing their protest, the farmers said that the Chief Minister has asked them to go ahead with sugarcane farming for the current season.
After meeting the Chief Minister, the protestors said that the CM has told them to go ahead with sugarcane farming for this season as the factory will be ready within a year. Farmers further informed that the Chief Minister has assured them that he will give directions to the Sanjivani factory administrator to issue area certificate to the farmers as these certificates are required by farmers to avail agriculture loan.
Meanwhile, the State government has floated tender for re-development of Sanjivani Sugar Factory on on Design-Build- Finance-Operate-Transfer basis, along with the setting up of an ethanol production plant through Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
