Seven cooperative sugar mills in Maharashtra are set to go under the auctioner’s hammer after the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) floated tenders inviting bids from interested buyers. Also, the bank has invited bids from interested buyers for a five-year period to run another cooperative bank.
The total outstanding amount owned by sugar mills to MSCB is around Rs 362 crores. Two of the mills are in Aurangabad, two in Beed while Dhule and Wardha have a mill each. None of the mills was operational for the last two crushing seasons.
MSCB Managing Director Pramod Karnad said that four more mills will be put up for sale in the coming days. “The”tenders for the remaining mills will be floated by August 31,” he”said.
The present sale of mills, bank officials said, could be counted as distress sale. Last year, the state government had opined that cooperative mills can’t be sold to private players but Karnad said the order could not be followed. “Rec”ntly, a nationalised bank auctioned a cooperative mill in Kolhapur and a private player from Belgaum had purchased the mill,” he”said.
Sanjiv Babar, managing director of the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation said that during the process of open tender it is not feasible to exclude anyone from filling bids. “Mor” the participants in the tender, better the chances of price realization,” he”said. Babar said most of the mills have been non-functional for years. The bank, Babar said, had earlier floated tenders which failed to get proper response.
Sale of cooperative sugar mills is a politically charged matter in the state. The MSCB, between 2006-13 had effected the sale of 29 cooperative sugar mills. Majority of the mills were purchased by private sugar mills, which caused much uproar in the state. Activists Medha Patkar, in 2014, had alleged that sale of cooperative sugar mills had involved a scam of Rs 20,000 crores. Patkar had demanded a special investigation team (SIT) probe.