For want of an immediate solution, the sugar commissioner’s office is learnt to have written to the state government to start the crushing season on November 25.

 

With Maharashtra still without a government and the Centre imposing President’s rule in the state, the office of the sugar commissioner has recommended November 25 as the date for the sugarcane crushing season to start in the state.

 

Unlike Karnataka or Uttar Pradesh, sugar mills in Maharashtra can only start their operations on or after the date decided by a high-powered ministerial committee. The committee, which meets under the chief minister, also takes decisions about various other policy-related issues governing the sector. Mills which start cane crushing before the scheduled date are liable to pay hefty fines.

 

More than 15 days have passed since the state Assembly election results, but the political stalemate in Maharashtra has failed to see the formation of a stable government. With the political situation still fluid, the chances of an early start to the crushing season seems highly unlikely. For want of an immediate solution, the sugar commissioner’s office is learnt to have written to the state government to start the crushing season on November 25.

 

Till date, 89 sugar mills have been issued licences to start crushing, while 72 licences are in the pipeline.

 

Maharashtra’s cane crop this year has sustained damages due to heavy rain and drought. In Sangli Kolhapur, the floods in the month of September had seen substantial losses to standing cane, while the drought of 2018 had led to substantial reduction of cane acreage in Marathwada. Heavy rain towards the end of October had led to water-logging in fields, which millers said would delay the start of the crushing season. Most millers are of the opinion that the crushing season would not start before the end of November and had started making preparations on that basis.

 

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation has written to former CM Devendra Fadnavis to request the Governor to allow sugar mills to start operations from November 15. Mills in Pune, it said, have ample cane and a delayed start would result in recovery loss for them.

 

In Kolhapur, the Swabhimani Shetkari Paksha has protested against the decision of the D Y Patil Cooperative Sugar Mill’s decision to start cane harvesting.