PONDA: Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) leader and former PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar said the Sanjivani sugar factory was set up by first Chief Minister Bhausaheb Bandodkar for providing livelihood to Goan farmers and warned that the voters will “unseat” the government if it shuts down the factory.
He said the Chief Minister and Cooperation Minister should stop about thinking about shutting down Sanjeevani as it is the lifeline of farmers
He said the Government boasts of protecting interest of farmers and depositing money into their account, while on other hand, it deprives them of their livelihood by “closing” the sugar factory.
He said, “Spending Rs 4.50 crore on factory maintenance is not difficult for government and this cannot be genuine reason for closing the factory. This is not a loss to government as spending Rs 4.5 crore means spending Rs 2,000 on each family of sugarcane farmers. When government speaks of depositing Rs 6,500 into farmers’ account then why is it “closing” down the factory?”
He admitted that if government wants to set up new sugar factory it would require 1.5 lakh tonnes of sugarcane for crushing and will have to spend Rs 70 crore on the new plant, which it can’t due to the prevailing scenario. But that does not mean that it should close the factory.
“Sanjivani can be operated by spending annual Rs 4-5 crore and by taking guidance of expert technicians, resource person and sugar factories from Maharashtra. The Chief Minister and Cooperation Minister should keep in mind their promise given in the Assembly,” he reminded.
