The new MahaVikas-Aghadi government in Maharashtra has scrapped the government guarantee of Rs 310 crore given by the previous BJP-Shiv-Sena government, led by Devendra Fadnavis. Government gurantees were approved by the previous government to four sugar mills belonging to Pankaja Munde, Kalyanrao Kale, Dhananjay Mahadik and Vinay Kore, all of whom are affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).The decision was taken at a meeting of the Uddhav Thackeray-led state Cabinet.

 

Usually, in case of co-operative sugar mills, the loans need to be procured from National Co-operative Development Corporation (NCDC), statutory financial lender for cooperatives run by the central government. NCDC provides loans to cooperative units at cheaper interest rates.

 

“The previous government had put five conditions for the sugar mills for providing loan guarantee and none of these mills could meet those so far. Following this, the cabinet decided to cancel the guarantee,” senior officials said.

“Since these sugar cooperatives did not fulfill the conditions put up for the guarantee, the state Cabinet decided to cancel the guarantee,” the official said.

 

The conditions were that these mills should have positive net worth; they should not have any non-performing assets or liabilities of the government; and the NCDC should accept the loan amount as part of the working capital According to reports, the government had given guarantee of Rs 50 crore on Vaidyanath Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana belonging to BJP leader Pankaja Munde, Rs 85 crore guarantee given on Bhima Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana of Dhananjay Mahadik, Rs 100 crore of guarantee on Vinay Kore’s Shree Tatyasaheb Kore Warna Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, among others.

 

“The last Cabinet meeting of the previous government passed 34 decisions. We are going to review all of them,” said a senior minister who attended the Cabinet meeting. The minister pointed out that of the five projects, four are from a single district and that too, of the former irrigation minister. State minister Eknath Shinde said the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government will assess status of the ongoing infrastructure projects undertaken by the previous government.

 

Meanwhile, some 43 mills have commenced crushing in the state as on November 20, crushing at least 9.04 lakh tonne to produce 6.67 lakh quintal of sugar at a recovery rate of 7.38%.