the goan I network
PANAJI
Independent MLA Prasad Gaonkar who supports the government, yesterday slammed the government for the Sanjivani Sugar Factory imbroglio.
“Everyone always puts the blame on the farmers at the end of the day. Instead of saying “The factory is in loss, please find out who’s responsible for the losses and fix accountability. The sugar factory has got to restart, and the Minister has to make this possible,” Gaonkar said while speaking in the Goa Legislative Assembly.
He pointed out that in the 40-45 years the factory has been running, in most of which the State government has incurred losses, no government, be it Congress or BJP, has investigated why there is so much loss.
“There are still many sugarcane farmers in Goa. So many governments have come and gone, but has any government done a study on why there is so much loss and if there has been any fraud? Why the sugarcane cultivators have reduced? And has any government tried to increase the number of cultivators?” Gaonkar questioned.
Congress MLA Pratapsingh Rane meanwhile said that other than the two years when the sugarcane was brought from outside the State, the factory has been in a loss for all the time that it has been there.
“I don’t know what the motives were to start the sugar factory here. Unlike in Maharashtra, we don’t have any sugar barons in Goa. I used to grow sugarcane, even I have stopped since our sugarcane doesn’t match that of the upper ghats. The issue needs to be studied,” Rane said.
In response, the CM said that while no decision was as yet taken on the factory, the government would “not let anyone rob from the factory in future.” “We’ll take all farmers’ views into consideration before taking a decision on the sugar factory,” Sawant said.
He also said that this time, 19,000 tonnes of sugarcane had already been sent for crushing outside the State, and that even the remaining 4,000-5,000 tonnes would be sent.
The government has been claiming a yearly Rs 25 crore loss at the factory.
