PONDA: Adding to its woes, the State-run Sanjeevani Sugar Factory has been warned by the farmers that they would stop supplying sugarcane soon, if their past one and half month bills are not cleared.
The Factory has been facing many obstacles in its smooth operation and is also dependent on government for financial assistance.
The farmers say that they are already bearing heavy cost of sugarcane cultivation and without the payment of their bills by Sanjeevani Factory, they are facing great hardship in meeting even their day-to-day needs.
It may be recalled that in December, the Sanjeevani Factory was directed not to commence operation just before the crushing season, for failing to install pollution control monitoring system as per CPCB direction, despite warning notice.
Further, the management also failed to carry out annual maintenance work of factory machinery, leading to delay in commencing crushing season by a month.
Finally, after agitation by the farmers, the government assured to provide Rs 10 crore for maintenance and released Rs 4 crore for installing pollution control monitoring system.
Thereafter, the system was installed and the season commenced on the second week of December. However, thereafter, the assured fund has not been released to Factory due which it has become difficult to run the affairs of Sanjeevani and also clear the bills of the farmers.
For smooth running, Sanjeevani needs 1200 metric tonnes of sugarcane everyday and half of it is supplied by farmers from Karnataka. However, since January 10, Sanjeevani Factory is facing shortage of sugarcane as the Karnataka farmers have halted supply due to closure of Anmod-Belgaum road for widening, which is the shortest distant to reach Sanjeevani factory.
This issue has been resolved now, as the Karnataka farmers have been permitted to transport sugarcane through Anmod route.
However, the Goan farmers are unhappy over the non-payment of one and half month bills, as such, have threatened to stop sugarcane supply.
When contacted, an official of Sanjeevani Factory said that since the government has not sanctioned funds, the bills are pending.
“We had requested the farmers to give us time till January 30 for clearing the bills; hope that they will not halt supply of sugarcane to Sanjeevani,” he said.
The official said that since past one and half month, around 32,000 metric tonnes of sugarcane has been crushed which includes around 20,000 metric tonnes supplied by Goan farmers and the rest 12,000 metric tonnes by Karnataka farmers.
