Indian sugar mills association

4 sugar mills, 2 of netas, to be auctioned

Date:	19 Jan 2012

Source:	DNA

Reporter:	Surendra Gangan

News ID:	866

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Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank (MSCB) has announced the auction of four more sugar mills that includes the mills under control of a Union minister and a sugar factory headed by former minister of state for rural development Suryakanta Patil.The four sugar mills, for which an advertisement has been published on Monday, owe nearly Rs250 crore to the bank.

Hutatma Jayvantrao Patil Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in Nanded, headed by Suryakanta Patil, a senior leader in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), will go under the hammer as the mill`s dues are more than Rs70 crore.

Patil said that the mill was handed over to the bank nearly 10 months ago, after the dues ran into Rs70 crore. “Both the state and Central government did not have the willingness to save the co-operative movement. It became very difficult to run the mill after the provision of the personal guarantee of the director board against the dues came into existence,” she said.

Leader of opposition in the state assembly Eknath Khadse, on the other hand, has objected the auction of the Muktabai Sugar Factory controlled by the family of President Pratibha Patil. He termed the move an example of political revenge. “I, along with Gopinath Munde had put bids for the factory a few months ago and the amount offered was Rs11 crore more than the reserve price. We offered Rs38 crore and there was no reason to attempt a re-bidding at the reserve price of Rs46 crore,” he said. Khadse had alleged that the 27 sugar mills for which the MSCB had bid in the auction were sold much below the reserve price.

While raising this issue in the state assembly in the monsoon session, Khadse had demanded re-auctioning of the sugar mills.

“The chief minister had to announce the re-auction as the mills were bought by the Congress leader at much below the reserve price. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, while admitting a loss to the MSCB, announced re-auctioning of the mills. While attempting for a revised price for the factories in liquidation, there was no reason to launch a re-auctioning of the Muktabai sugar mills,” he added

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