Pune, Oct 14 Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday urged sugarcane agitators to cooperate with sugar mills to ensure an early start to the crushing season, citing lower sugarcane yield and financial challenges amid drought.
Farmers have been staging a protest over sugarcane prices, ethanol rates and other demands on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border since Tuesday, demanding a better remunerative support price.
The protest disrupted vehicular traffic on the busy Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway on Wednesday morning.
Fadnavis said the current year was particularly challenging for the sugar industry, with lower sugarcane production likely to shorten the operating period of mills.
At the same time, the need to address a sugar shortage required an early start to crushing operations, he said.
“It’s an urgent request to all the agitators that this particular year is full of crises. On one hand, sugarcane yield is low, which will shorten the operating period of sugar mills. On the other hand, there is a need to start the crushing season early due to a shortage of sugar,” the Chief Minister told reporters in Pune.
He said the government had asked sugar mills in Maharashtra to begin crushing operations from October 15, while mills in neighbouring Karnataka start the season on October 1.
He warned that delays in starting operations in Maharashtra could result in sugarcane being diverted to Karnataka, causing losses to local mills.
“When sugar mills in Maharashtra remain closed, mills in neighbouring Karnataka come and purchase sugarcane on a large scale, resulting in a shorter operating period for our mills,” Fadnavis said.
He appealed to farmers and agitators to understand the difficult circumstances, noting that the state was facing a drought-like situation and farmers were under stress.
“In such a difficult situation, when both sugar mills and sugarcane crops are facing problems, there should not be an approach that creates further difficulties. Everyone should adopt an understanding approach,” he said.
Fadnavis said Maharashtra had ensured that more than 99 per cent of dues in paying the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) to sugarcane cultivators are cleared.
“Maharashtra is the only state in the country where more than 99 per cent of FRP payments have been completed,” he added.
On the agitation by Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) aspirants, Fadnavis said the government was committed to bringing transparency to the recruitment process and had constituted a judicial inquiry commission to examine the issue.
He said the report of the V Radha committee, which had conducted hearings, would help bring about comprehensive reforms in the functioning of the MPSC.
“The objective is not just to bring transparency to the overall functioning of the MPSC, but also to ensure that examinations are conducted on time, vacancies are created in time, results are declared on time, and appointments are made without delay,” he said.
The Chief Minister said the government would work towards better forecasting of vacancies to ensure that posts were identified and made available for recruitment in a timely manner.
He added that the government was positive about the demands raised by the protesting aspirants and urged political parties not to politicise the issue.
(PTI News)
