Kolhapur: Gurudatta Sugars, which had lost its crushing licence for not paying sugarcane purchase price has got the licence back after paying the entire amount.

In an official statement on Monday, the mill said it has paid the sugarcane price to farmers as per the fair and remunerative price formula. The payment was made by the second week of May. A detailed report of its recovery, calculation based on FRP formula and payment made to farmers was submitted to the state sugar commissionerate, requesting the sugar commissioner to revoke suspension of crushing licence.

Officials at the sugar commissionerate confirmed that the suspension has been revoked.

When asked about the reason behind revoking the suspension despite delay in payment, a senior officer of the sugar commissioner said, "The intension was to give a strong message that the government is not going to be lenient with mills which are not following its orders. There has been a precedence for the past 15 years of no sugar facing action from the government for non-payment of sugarcane price. With the change in government, the office has been given more freedom to take action against erring mills."

Similar action has been taken against seven other mills, including a couple of mills from Kolhapur and Sangli districts. The owners of these mills are trying to sell their sugar in the market so that they could make payments to farmers. The strategy of the government has been helpful so far when it comes to farmers getting their due payments.